Knuckles Adventure 2: Space, Time and an Echidna
by Shelfkid91
Summary: One year after the Beast and it's attack leaves Knuckles still moping around Angel Island, but when Tails convinces Shadow to get him up there to give Knux a peice of his mind, they found out just how much control Shadow has over Chaos. Rated T jic
1. Chapter 1: One for the Knucklehead

_Disclaimer: All original characters, items, and places mentioned in this story belong only to Sonic Team and Sega. I do not claim them in anyway._

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_Chapter 1: One for the Knuckle-head_

Most stories start out as being a normal day, mine, on the other hand, does not. My day was anything but normal! Sonic had convinced me to try to easy, normal life. I found someone to crash with for a while. Big mistake.

At four this morning, they were robbed. Since I obviously was the only one in the house that could catch this criminal, they woke me up and sent me to find him. I got very annoyed indeed. After tracking and chasing, a high speed car chase, may I add, for over an hour, I caught up. The guy ran out of gas, so he made it easy.

After he finally stopped, he started shooting at me! I had him pinned down in no time. It took the cops two hours to get there to haul the guy off to jail. During that time, I was punched, kicked, scratched, but he didn't dare bite me, and cursed at.

Then, I went for a run. I actually was kind of enjoying myself, but I also wasn't paying any attention to where I was going. I ran right off the hotel near Emerald Coast. I landed right in the ocean. After nearly half an hour of struggling, I made it back to the beach, where I just stood.

"SHADOW!" I turned around to see Tails running towards me. It was about eight in the morning by then.

"What!" I snapped at Tails.

"I need you to get me to Angel Island," He panted. "What are you doing at the Beach? I never thought you to be the one to watch sunrises, and besides, you need to be facing the other way. I was looking all over for you!"

"Ok, one, why are you looking for me? You have a plane," I said. "And second, what about Sonic?"

"In this order," Tails said. "One, I crashed the Tornado yesterday during a test flight. Two, Sonic told me to leave Knuckles alone. He says he is still suffering."

"Well sure." I had, of course, heard about Ceaira and the Beast. The story was very interesting, but I can understand why Knux doesn't want to be bothered. "No! Go fix your plane and go yourself."

"Please, Shadow!"

"NO!"

"PLEASE! Knuckles needs to get off his sorry behind! It's been a full year!"

I rolled my eyes. "Knuckles will heal on his own time, Tails! Leave him alone."

Tails shook his head. "Come on! I want to tell him that Backdrop is doing okay, and besides, he didn't come down for Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, or any of those holidays! I miss him."

I sighed. "No, you just want to go up there and yell at him."

"That too. . ."

"TAILS!"

"What?"

"NO! I will not take you up there! Now leave me alone!" I yelled. Some early morning beach goers turned their heads.

"Well aren't we mister Grumpy this morning," Tails taunted.

"You go away before I show you just how much Chaos Spear hurts!"

Tails took a step back at that, but kept at it. "Please! I know you want to see your old pal."

"Okay, one; Knuckles is not my pal and two;. . . NO!"

Tails bowed his head. I thought he had given. "PLEASE!" Wrong again. This just wasn't my day.

"Tails, no! And that is final! No, no! And a thousands times, NO!"

"Ah, come on, Shadow!"

I finally caved. I was annoyed, and I didn't want to sit here and argue with a twelve year old until he killed me with his annoyed, high pitched voice. "Fine! I'll take you, but we leave when I say so!"

Tails nodded vigorously. "Thank you!" He ran up and hugged me.

I pushed him to the sand. "Do that again, I will kill you!" Tails nodded again, but he was less excited. "Here we go. CHAOS CONTROL!"

I opened my eyes. It had worked. We had successfully made it to Angel Island! I was surprised because my warping ability had been on the fritz lately. Tails took off towards the Shrine. I followed more slowly. If indeed I had ever been on the Floating Island, it had been a good, long while. I looked around at what Knuckles saw everyday. Man, he had it good. No pesky memories to deal with. All he had to do was sit and watch a giant green rock.

Ok, yes, I have all of my memory back. Full recovery. This is not a story about me trying to get my memory back, that's worn out.

By the time I reached the Shrine, Tails and Knuckles were about to be in a blood brawl.

"Knuckles, you NEED to get over it! It's been a full year! One whole YEAR! Get off your pity train and come visit us sometime!" Tails yelled.

Knuckles glared. "Shut up! Why did you even come up here, Tails?"

"I'm worried about you, Knux! It's scary that you won't even come down here anymore!"

"Well, you aren't making it any better by coming up here and yelling at me!" Knuckles screamed.

"Well obviously you need to be screamed at to get ANYTHING through that thick skull of yours!" Tails retorted.

"You wanna take that back, buddy-boy?"

"No, I don't, 'buddy-boy'!" Tails yelled back. "It's true and you know it! Here's a tip Knuckles; Get on with your life!"

"I will get on with my life in my own time!"

"Well, the time is now, Knickle -Brain!"

"Don't call me that!" Knuckles yelled.

"I'll call you what ever I want to call you, Knix!"

"Stop that!"

"Why? You going to punch me:

"I just might!"

Ok, time to interfere! "Guys! Calm down, will ya?" I called. Knuckle spun around.

"What in the world is _he _doing here?" He yelled.

Tails shrugged. "I asked him to bring me up here," he explained.

"So you brought this child up here!"

"Yes," I said calmly, "I brought Tails up here. He wanted to speak with you."

"Thanks, Shadow! Take him home now!"

I sighed. "Okay."

"NO!" Tails yelled. "I'm not finished with the Knuckle-headed wonder yet!"

"Tails! The deal was we left when I say so," I said, trying to keep calm. It wasn't working. "We are leaving, NOW!"

"NO!" Here we go again!

"Yes! NOW!" I screamed.

"NO! Not now!"

"CHAOS CONTROL!" I screamed out of pure anger. There was blinding white light, that turned to a deep blue. I looked around. This had never happened before. Tails and Knuckles were both there. They looked as confused as I felt. We should have exited the warp by now.Something was wrong! Horribly wrong. I was too close to the Master Emerald. I put a lot of power into that Chaos Control, and then with the power of the Master Emerald, it must have boosted the warp. I had no earthly idea where we would end up. I closed my eyes and had the feeling of falling.

When I opened them, I looked around. Tails and Knuckles were just waking up as well. We weren't on Angel Island anymore, or at least, I didn't think we were. "Wha-, what happened?" Tails asked, rubbing his head.

"Where are we?" Knuckles asked, looking at our surroundings. The Ruins! That was where we were. But, they weren't ruins anymore. They looked like they were just built. The Temple wasn't even fully built yet!

My eyes darted. No one was around. This was all a dream. I did _not _send us back in time! I didn't! I couldn't have. Chaos Control doesn't work like that! There was no way! I looked at the Chaos Emerald in my hand. "Well," I muttered, "That didn't work."

_Well, thats the first chapter! Hope ya'll liked it! If you haven't read The Last of my Kind you might get confused, since this is the second in the Knuckles Adventure saga! Please R&R!_


	2. Dream Works Cave Drawings

_Chapter 2: Dream Works Cave Drawings_

"Well, duh, Shadow!" Knuckles yelled at me. "Of course it didn't work!"

"Would you stop yelling," I snapped back.

Knuckles snarled. "Well, Shadow, none of this would have happened if you had stayed off my Island!"

"I wouldn't have been on your Island if you would have gotten off of it!" I retorted.

"Don't talk to me!"

I sighed and bowed my head. This was all Tails' fault anyway. That stupid fox had to visit Knuckles. He had to drag me into this. HOW did this happen? Chaos Control isn't used to warp through time, just space. I gripped my ears in frustration. Why wasn't Knuckles happy? He hated his life anyway, this should be a relief to him!

"Guys?" Tails asked quietly

"Shut up!" Knuckles and I yelled simultaneously. I covered my head with my hands.

"Seriously!" Tails snapped. I looked up.

"Shoot!" I muttered. There, surrounding us was about ten ancient Echidnas. They weren't blood red like Knuckles, they were a much lighter color red. Two were white, and one was hot pink. The pink one looked to be the youngest.

The bigger of the white ones stepped forward. "Wray mentarie?" He asked.

"What?" I asked. He repeated the question.

Knuckles stepped forward. The white echidna who spoke cocked his head, obviously very confused at Knuckles' color. "Do you speak English?" Knuckles asked.

"Englise?"

Knuckles nodded. "Englise." The white Echidna turned around to one of the red ones. They spoke quickly in what ever language they were speaking in. The red Echidna nodded and pushed the pink one before Knuckles.

The kid stood up very tall. "He says," the child began, with a slight accent, "who are you?"

Knuckles growled. "Does he speak English?" He demanded again. The Echidna nodded. "Then why can't I speak to him?"

"Because, you aren't from our Tribe," He answered.

"I don't care what Tribe I'm from, I want to talk to who ever is in charge here!"

"Knux, calm down!" I growled. Tails was silent through this. I figured he was trying as hard as he could to understand what was going on. Everything he's been through could have been explained by science, other that his trip to visit Tikal, but that didn't last nearly as long. This situation, though, has no scientific reasoning.

The pink Echidna sighed. "The Chief wouldn't want to be bothered by a group of travelers," he said, "But if you wish, I will ask if you may see him."

Knuckles nodded. "Thanks."

After a brief conversation between the white and pick echidnas went on. The white one started walking. Some of the red one pushed us forward. "I guess we should follow them," Tails said, speaking for the first time since the Echidna's showed up.

"No dip, fox-boy," Knuckles hissed. Tails looked like he was fighting the urge to smack that guy silly. I didn't pay attention after that. Knuckles and Tails kept at it, though. Those two were going to get us killed if they didn't shut up! I looked at the Temple. Construction on it was about seventy percent finished. We had to be pretty far back in time. Many Echidnas were looking at us. A few children were even running round. I couldn't help but wonder what Knuckles was thinking about this. This was his race; his _dead _race. These weren't some creatures who looked like Echidnas, they were Echidnas, _real_ Echidnas. This is what Knuckles wanted. This is where he belonged, not on some Island, guarding a huge, green rock with no one to understand him. I shook my head. Why should I care?

We were lead to a stone house. It was a bit bigger than the ones we saw on our way to it. The white Echidna led us into the home. Only our wonderful pink guy followed. The rest stood outside. I rolled my eyes.

Their Chief was a greyish color. _Must be really old,_ I thought. The white Echidna began speaking very quickly to the Chief. Once again, we couldn't understand a word they said. After a few minutes, the Chief addressed us. "My brother tells me you are trespassing in our Tribe's land," He said.

I nodded "Yes, that wou. . ."

The Chief threw his hand up. "Silence! Allow the Echidna to speak!"

"Excuse me?" I growled. "I am the oldest of this group, _I _will address you, not Knuckles!"

The Chief looked taken aback by this. "We do not judge by age. Allow the Echidna to speak!"

"NO!" I yelled. Knuckles was staring at me, wide-eyed.

"Fine. Allow the twin-tailed beast to address me," the Chief said quietly. I growled, but Knuckles slapped me one good in the back of my head. I nodded to Tails, who then stepped forward.

"Sir?" Tails said, voice quivering a bit. I had to remember that he was only twelve years old.

"Is it true that you are trespassing in my Tribe's land?" The Chief asked. Tails nodded. "Why?"

"I'm not sure," Tails answered. I slapped my head. _Please don't tell him we are from the future! _I begged silently. "We didn't mean to trespass. I guess we just crossed into your territory without knowing we were doing anything wrong." I released a sigh. That was a good story.

"My brother states he found your group arguing. Why is that?"

Tails smiled sheepishly. "You see, we've been traveling for years together and sometimes we can't seem to get along." I stared, shocked, at the kid. I had no idea he could lie like that! Sonic had little to no lying ability, but Tails, he could lie through his teeth! It was amazing.

"I see. Why are you traveling? Do you have a Tribe?"

"No, sir," Tails said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "All three of our families were loners and they were killed. We met up after a few years of living alone."

The Chief bowed his head. "I'm terribly sorry." Then he pointed to me. "What is that?"

"That, sir, would be a hedgehog. I am a fox!" Tails said. I was still dumbfounded that this kid could lie on the spot like that!

"What are your names, kind fox?"

"My name is Miles Prower, but mostly I'm called Tails. This is Shadow. He's nicer than he looks and that is Knuckles. We call him Knux sometimes, or M.E."

"I see. Kytara! Come here!"

The pink Echidna ran over to the Chief. Once again, they spoke rapidly in their language. After about ten minutes, the Chief turned to us. "This is Kytara, he will bring you to your quarters." We all nodded and Kytara walked out. We followed silently.

Kytara led us through the streets. Once again, we were stared at by the inhabitants of this world. "Hey, Kytara," Knuckles said, running to match his stride with the pink echidna. "Do you know someone named Tikal?"

Kytara shook his head. "Sorry, there is no one in the Tribe by that name."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

I sighed. "Are we prisoners?" Tails asked. I shot him a glance. Knuckles could have killed him with the look that fox got.

"Of course not! You did nothing wrong. We don't take prisoners unless we are in war."

That was the end of the conversation. Kytara led us into a much smaller stone building. It had two rooms. One looked like it would be used for just a sitting room and kitchen, maybe. The other was a bed room with two beds.

"Well, I know it's not much, but considering your story, it is most likely better than what you are used to. As my Chief told you, me name is Kytara, but most just call me Ky."

"Nice to meet you," Knuckles said, shaking Ky's hand.

"You are a strange color, Knuckles," Ky commented.

Knuckles shrugged. "I know. It's just, where I come from, red isn't that strange of a color for Echidnas."

"Because there's only one left," I muttered under my breath. Knuckles elbowed me. I cursed at him and went into the bed room. Tails followed.

"Shadow? I'm really sorry about this. If I hadn't of wanted to get up on Angel Island so bad, then none of this would have happened."

"Tails, I promise, I _will _get us home, even if it kills me!"

Tails smiled briefly before collapsing his head in his hand and cried. I rubbed the bridge of my nose. After a few more minutes of listening to Tails' sobs, Knuckles came into the room alone. He ignored Tails completely. I had the burning desire to punch Knux for that.

"Ky says we should talk about this. The Chief wants us to stay a week," Knuckles said.

"Well, I can't get us out of here until I figure out how I got us here," I answered.

"Then we'll have to entertain ourselves until you can get us home."

"Entertain ourselves? Knux, what is there to do around here? It's not like we can just watch movies all day, unless there's a company called Dream-Works Cave Paintings, I doubt there's too much to do here."

Knuckles sighed. "Cut the smart talking, Shadow! You nearly got us killed in there! Why didn't you just let him talk to me?"

"Because, you can't handle yourself, Knuckle-head!" I yelled. "I'm trying to work with what I've been given!"

Knuckles punched me in the jaw. I growled and lunged at him. Tails was screaming at us, begging us to stop. Neither of us really cared what Miles thought about our way of solving our problems. The fight lasted nearly half an hour. Both of us fell over from exhaustion. It was a good thing. We might have killed each other.

Tails growled at us, said a few choice words to us about be immature and walked into the other.

"One week?" I asked Knuckles.

"Yes," He snapped. He glared at me and walked out of our temporary home. Our first day in the past and all three of us hated each other. Not the best way to start the worst week of my life.


	3. The Legend

_Chapter 3: The Legend_

Day one:

First things first; sleeping on a stone floor isn't good for your back. When Knuckles returned from his little walk, he swiftly choose one of the beds. Tails, after moving the bed to the other side of the room, went to sleep on that one. I was left one the cold, hard stone floor. It got pretty cold during the night in this place. It had to have dropped twenty degrees between nine o'clock and midnight.

That morning, Knuckles went for another walk. He was up before the sun. The reason I know when he got up was because he decide to make sure I knew he was leaving. I still have a bruise from that. He gave me a nice kick in the stomach and then one in the head.

"Hey!" I called. He didn't turn around. He just walked out of the house. I gripped my Chaos Emerald and followed him. We hadn't gotten ten feet before Knuckles bolted. I growled. _That wasn't smart, Knux, _I thought. I began chasing him.

He had more of an advantage to our fight because he could easily escape my homing attack by climbing out of my reach. When he did that, I used Chaos Spear, which made him fall off of whatever he had climbed and the chase would begin again. The speed battle lasted nearly two hours, neither of us willing to admit that this little thing would end up badly if a child got in either of our ways. In truth, I highly doubted we cared if a child, or anyone else for that matter, got in our way.

We destroyed two houses, about three or four square feet of the Temple and injured one pedestrian. It was a pretty good fight. We got in trouble, later on, but it was fun, somewhat. When we finally called the fight, I screamed a few words to Knuckles that I will _never _repeat in my life.

I trudged back to the house. Tails was waiting for me inside. He was staring daggers at me. If looks could kill, I would have burst into flames right there and would have been reduced to ashes in a matter of seconds. "What?" I asked.

Tails narrowed his eyes. "WHAT?" He yelled. I had never seen that fox this angry. He was pushing his luck. "Shadow, you and Knuckle-Brain are going to get us kicked out of here! Why are you even fighting? This is MY fault, not Knuckles' or yours, MINE!"

For a brief second, I felt sorry for the kid. He had the best intentions for going up the Island. But some of the worse things happen because they had the "best intentions". "Tails. . ." I started.

"I don't want to hear it, Shadow!" Tails screamed.

I was taken aback. That was the last time I tried to help someone. "I'm trying to help!"

"HELP?" He screamed, laughing bitterly. "Well, that would be the understatement of the millennium, Shadow! I can't ditch you because you are my ticket home, but when this is over and I ever see your ugly face again, I will show you just how hard I can swing my tails!"

I glared at him. "Who said I'll take you home?" I yelled.

"You wouldn't leave me, and you know it!" He turned around, signaling that this conversation was over.

"Why you little. . ."

"Am I interrupting something?"

I spun around. "No, Ky, we were just finishing."

"Good. Shadow I need to speak with you. I heard about your little flight through our city, and we are appalled," He said calmly.

"I'm sorry," I growled.

"It's okay. The Chief wasn't too angry to hear about the damages." Ky smiled. He saw Tails, who was still standing with his back towards us. "Say, you guys want to hear a story?"

"Oh, story time!" I growled, but nodded anyway. "Why not, Ky? Tell us your story."

Ky nodded. "Good! Alright, this is one of our most famous legends. It all started about 300 years ago. .."

"KY! Thank goodness I found you!" We all turned around, except Tails.

"Yes, Knuckles," Ky said.

I growled and looked at him. "We were just about to hear a story, Knuckles. You can wait." Knuckles stuck his tongue out at me. "Do that again, and you won't have a tongue," I snapped. Knuckles threw one hand over his mouth in mock fear. With the other hand, he raked the side of his face with a mock "No, don't do that! Please," Kind of face. I growled, about the lunge for his throat.

"You wanted to see me Knuckles?" Ky interrupted, good thing too.

"Yes. I was walking and I heard someone say something about the Beast! I need to know everything you know about it!"

Ky smiled. "You are in luck, that is the story I was about to tell!" Knuckles brightened up and grabbed one of the stone chairs and sat. Tails turned around and leaned against the wall. He carefully slid until he was in a sitting position. I stayed standing. "Ok, as I said, it all started about 300 years ago. A large group of my Tribe decided they would be an independent Tribe. Years went by and these creatures came up with a new system of government. They began to eat meat and legend has it that they sometimes were cannibals, but not very often. The Chief of our Tribe got angry at this new species. They had become something other them Echidnas. He went a an Echidna in his Tribe who knew some ancient curses. The Beast was created. It was a monster so horrible, that even the bravest warriors ran in terror from it. It had the body of a wolf, the head of a lion, horns of a bull, hind legs of a cheetah, front legs of a tiger and the tails and brain of a Kitsune.

"The Beast was sent onto the Tribe, known as the Tribe of the Wind, for their ever changing ways. For years many went into the woods where the Beast lived to kill it. Few came back, until this one boy, Omtry, went into the woods, carrying his baby sister. He slowly approached the Beast's clearing. He placed the child in front of the monster. The Beast looked from Omtry to his sister. After a minute, the Beast devoured the baby." Knuckles grew pale at that. Tails didn't flinch. He still had that angry glare. I decided to sit. This might take a while and my feet were killing me.

"Omtry did this for 2 years, feeding the Beast young children from the Tribe and sometimes he even managed to lead elders into the clearing. He fed it twice a month. One day, during the second year, the boy's brother, Trinnit, followed his brother into the woods as Omtry carried their parent's newest child. He watched in horror as Omtry left the child near the Beast and went to stroke it's matted wolf fur and it's soft golden mane as the Beast ate the child. Trinnit quickly went to the Council with what he saw. They believed him instantly, for Trinnit never lied about something so serious. They waited until Omtry went for his second round of the month.

"When he placed the child down, one of the Council members screamed and fled. Omtry turned around, seeing the remaining Council member and his brother, Trinnit. Without hesitation, Omtry pointed to his brother. The Beast lunged at Trinnit and withing seconds, there was nothing left of the young man. The remaining Council member had Omtry arrested. His trial was only a week later. Like expected, Omtry was found guilty. His punishment was to continue to feed the Beast, but he had to tell the parents that he was taking their child and he had to kill the child before he fed it to the Beast and cut a piece from each child and eat it." I shot a glance at Knuckles, who looked ready to barf.

"Omtry figured he got off easy until he went for his first victim. He walked up the hut and knocked. The mother answered. Omtry explained what he there for, though he had no need for that. The mother begged and screamed for Omtry to change his mind, but he was firm. He picked up the child with the mother's sorrow filled screams echoing throughout the Tribal area. He walked into the clearing and pulled out his dagger. Without giving himself time to thing, he stabbed the child. Wincing, he took a bit off of the child and ate if without chewing. This went on for a long while. He often talked to the Beast, begging it to try a different meal. After nearly tem years, the Beast finally didn't eat the body of the child. Omtry looked at it. He asked it if it was sick. The Beast shook its massive head. Omtry walked up to it and stroked it's mane. It made somewhat of a purring noise. Suddenly, a glow came from the Beast and Omtry. When it faded, Omtry found he had a new ability. He could morph. Later he found the Beast gave him the power so Omtry could hunt within the Tribe as any animal, saving him from having to tell the parents that he was taking the child. Years later, Omtry met a nice girl. They had a child together, who had the morphing ability. This young man became what became known as the Keeper of the Beast. The Keepers usually were kind hearted. It was a family business, but the Tribe of the Wind still feared the monster. The Keepers did all they could to protect the Beast, but the Tribe never stopped trying to destroy it. To this day, the decedents of Omtry still protect the Beast and try everything within their power to keep it alive." Ky stood up. Knuckles nodded his thanks and walked out of the house.

I stared after him. That still didn't answer any of his questions. "Ky, what is the Tribe of the Wind?" I asked.

"I have no idea. They aren't Echidnas anymore, that's for sure. I need to get back," he said and walked out. I was stuck with Tails again. Neither of us tried to talk to the other one. I went for a walk later on. When I got back, well after dark, Tails and Knuckles were asleep in the beds. I hissed sadly and curled up on the floor where I stayed awake until well after midnight.


	4. One Week in Looneyville

_Chapter 4: One Week in Looneyville_

Author's Note: I'm proving I am not all Doom-and-gloom! This is what I call a filler chapter, it will be rather short. The week they spend in the past is very uneventful. This is Shadow's "journal" _of what happened Don't worry, only about ½, maybe less, of my story takes place in the past! _

Day two

Looneyville; that is what I called this stupid place. These people are crazy! They look at me like I'm some sort of freak. When I told this to Tails, he just explained it like this; "You are a freak Shadow." That was about all he said to me the entire week. After I woke up, my back was incredibly sore. I yelled that I was getting a bed that night. That got me a punch from the red guy himself. Before we went into a huge argument, I quickly left the room and went to explore the village.

I was always awed by the Temple in the Ruins, but it was truly amazing now. The colors were so vibrant, not dull like they were from where I was from. I looked around. The color of the echidnas ranged from white to light pink, or hot pink, in Ky's case. Most of the children were light pink, so light that they looked almost white. I hadn't caught a whiff of any of the pure white Echidnas we met our first day.

When I returned from my walk, it was well after dark. Needless to say, I had to sleep on the floor again.

Day Three

I woke up again with a back ache. It had to have been around noon. I growled and walked into the bedroom. Tails was reading an old scroll. Not bothering to ask him where he got it, I left him to his work. Knuckles was gone for the day again.

I went in search for where Tails got the scroll. It was bored out of my mind. I walking into Ky.

"Hey!" He said cheerfully.

"Hi," I muttered. "Do you know where I can read a few scrolls?"

Ky nodded and led me down the street. Children stared at me, wide-eyed. I didn't look at them and tried to ignore their stares. It made me uncomfortable. It reminded me too much of being in the lab on the ARK and being in GUN. I was always stared at. Some kids even ran. Ky told me not to worry. Hedgehogs weren't popular around there, I guessed.

Ky led me into what looked like a library. "Here you go," he whispered. I sighed and walked down the rows of shelves stuffed with scrolls and what looked like parchment books. I picked up one with a picture of a dragon-like creature. I thought it looked something like Perfect Chaos. I opened the parchment book and began reading:

Is there such a creature that can cause so much terror in one day? Is there a creature that could easily destroy _with water alone? The answer is yes. Some say he is a myth, but I've seen this creature. It is one so horrible, the bravest of the Echidna race would run in fear of his might. Some call him by many names. I call him Chaos, for his destruction abilities. His long introductions are not needed. This is my story of my encounter of Chaos and the Chao he protects. I was only a boy when. . ._

"That is one of the best books we have here."

I spun around. A black Echidna was staring down at me from where I sat on the floor. Black? "It seems interesting."

"Yes. Elene was said to be crazy. It was his only fiction book. Most of what is in this building is either Legend or non-fiction. Though some will argue that the book you hold is non-fiction, it is purely fantasy." She blushed. "Forgive me. My name is Quiden." She held out her hand.

"My name is Shadow," I said, standing and shaking her hand. She had a firm grip.

"You are that hedgehog that came with that red echidna and the two-tailed one, aren't you?"

I nodded with a smile. "So, are we that popular."

"After your flight through the city, yes," she said with a laugh.

I shrugged. "Yeah, about that. . ."

"No need to explain."

I smiled again and went to a table to read the book. By the time I finished, the sun was going down. "Shoot," I muttered. I replaced the book to it's spot. "Bye Quiden!" I called and ran back to the house. The beds were taken again. I sat leaning against the wall and fell asleep there.

Day Four

I woke up completely stiff. Knuckles was gone again, along with Tails. I left the house as well.

Some kids were playing in the street. I decided to ask if I could join. The oldest looking one shrugged. "Sure!"

It wasn't a hard game. It was sort of like kick-ball. The kids took a rather smooth rock and throw it at the "batter". The object of the game is to punch the rock the farthest and while the batter runs the full length around the Temple, the other players look for the rock. The points are given by how far the batter gets around. A loud scream indicates that the rock has been found. You get 20 points for making it all around, 5 for making it to the first corner, 10 for the second and 15 for the third.

When it was my turn to bat, I stood ready. My fists weren't really made for this kind of punching, but I let it rip. The rock itself didn't go far, but considering my speed, I skated the entire track before they found the rock.

"You cheated!" One of the children yelled.

"I didn't cheat! I'm just fast!" I yelled back. Big mistake. I was outnumbered one-to-ten and was quickly over taken. The fight itself was embarrassing enough, but actually getting beaten was worse. I limped back to the house. It was well before the sun went down, but Tails and Knuckles were already in the beds. I limped to my usual place and fell asleep. That night, I dreamed.

Day Five: Early Morning

"Tails!" I screamed. He was fighting someone on top of a hill. "TAILS!" I screamed again. He didn't look at me. Beside me stood a shadowy figure. I couldn't make out the shape of the creature beside me.

"Help him!" A voice said. It was coming from the figure beside me.

"How? I don't even know who he is fighting!" I yelled back desperately.

"Help him!" The voice repeated.

"Where's Knuckles?" I asked suddenly scared something _had happened to him. _

"Knuckles is safe." It wasn't the same voice that had been speaking to me. It was a disembodied one.

I looked on the hill. Tails was losing! Who was he fighting? With a scream, he fell. I watched in horror as he rolled down the hill, dead. The figure he was fighting followed. The figure was cloaked. I looked beside me. The creature that had been talking to me had fled. The figure walked and stood in front of me. "We finally meet, Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Who are you?"

He laughed and threw off his hood. There, standing in front of me was an exact copy of myself. There standing in my face, holding a bloodied weapon that was used to kill Miles Tails Prower was Shadow the Hedgehog!

"NNNOOO!" I screamed, jolting awake. Tails and Knuckles ran into the living room, both looking very worried.

"Shadow?" Tails asked, his voice heavy with worry. That shocked me. I looked down at my hands. They were shaking. Knuckles was staring at my. He looked ready for a fight. So they both really cared. I crawled to the wall, breathing very quickly, still shaking. "Knux, get some water!" Tails snapped. Knuckles nodded and ran out, most likely to the well. Tails placed his hand on my shoulder. "Shadow, it was only a dream."

I looked at his face. The haunting image of him dead in my dream raged second worse in my mind. The memory of me standing there in front of me was the worse image ever. Knuckles came back with some water. I slowly drank it until I stopped shaking. I felt sick. Tails led me to his bed and I fell asleep, feeling like I had the stomach flu.

* * *

When I woke up, Tails was sitting on Knuckles' bed. "I figured it out," he whispered. I gave him a confused look. "I know how we can get home."

"Ok?"

"We just need to use Chaos Control again. We have messed up the time stream. According to my calculations, the stream will fix itself, sending us home at the exact moment we left," he said. I nodded. "Shadow, what did you dream about? Was it Maria?"

I shook my head. "No, Tails, it was not. It was about. . . Never mind. I'll tell you when we get back home." Tails nodded.

Later on the day, I went to visit Quiden again, but she wasn't there. I'd have to tell her good-bye when we left. I grabbed another parchment book. I went back to the house later. The beds were once again taken. That night, I did not sleep. I stayed awake all night, to scared to close my eyes.

Day Six

Nothing happened on the sixth day. I stayed in the house that day, hoping to get one of the beds. I read all day, actually. Oh, and at the end of the day, Knuckles walked in. This is what he said: "Hey guys! I just want you to know that I'm not coming home with you."

Author's note: I hope you enjoyed it. The dream was the only thing that was suppose to be gruesome. If you haven't noticed, I'm bagging on poor Shadow, but there is a reason for that!


	5. Back to the Future

_Author's note: Hey! Sorry it took so long. I have Band Camp for the next week, so don't expect another update until next Saturday! I leave you with a cliff-hanger, sorry. This chapter has it's gruesome parts. I realized that I write better like that. Hope you enjoy it, and please don't hesitate to tell me if I'm too graphic with my writing._

_

* * *

Chapter Five: Back to the Future _

Day Seven: 

Tails begged Knuckles, repeatedly, to come back with us. Again and again, the fox asked the echidna to come back. Knuckles would only shake his head. "I'm sorry, Tails, but I belong with my own kind," he would say, patting the fox on the back. It nearly broke me to see Tails last night. He cried himself to sleep. I was exhausted from the night before, but I still listened to him cry in his bed. Once again, I had been forced to sleep on the floor. Around three in the morning, Knuckles cracked.

"STOP!" He yelled at Tails. I jolted awake. I didn't even know that I had fallen asleep. "Just stop! You have something to come home to, I don't! Don't give me all of this! All I have is a life of pain and loneliness to come back to! I hated my life back there!"

I walked into the room. Tails looked as if Knuckles had punched him clear across the face. He glared at Knuckles with burning eyes. Knuckles backed up a step or two. His angry face turned into a worried expression. I knew what he had done. He hit a nerve. He was saying that Tails and Sonic and the Master Emerald, Team Chaotix and everything in the future didn't matter. "Tails. . .?" Knuckles whispered. Tails stood, slamming his fist into Knuckles' abdomen and fled from the house.

I glared at him. "Nice going!" I snapped.

"Shut up, Shadow! This is all your fault!" Knuckles screamed.

"My fault? Knuckles, if you had left your blasted Island, then I wouldn't have had to go up there in the first place! You are to blame for this!" I yelled back.

"ME?" Knuckles retorted bitterly. "Shadow, you are to blame for so much in our lives, even if this isn't one of them!"

"What are you hinting at? I did NOTHING!"

"Exactly! You would have watched the world get destroyed while you tried to figure out your twisted past!"

I flinched. Yes, it was true, I had felt like that, but that was also almost four years ago, before Metal. "This argument is getting too personal," I whispered.

He knew that he had hit a soft spot. He kept at it. "Why, Shadow? You can't handle the fact that you nearly destroyed the Earth? You idiot!"

"Shut up!"

"And Maria! You ever thought that maybe she just pretended to like you to make her grandfather happy?"

"SHUT UP!"

"Make me, Shadow, if that is your real name."

_Oh, I'll make you! _I thought. I lunged, going strait for the throat. Knuckles threw up his hands, but a fraction of a second too slow. I gripped his throat, fully cutting off his air. Oh, I had panned on killing him that night; letting him die slowly and feeling every minute of his death. He grabbed at my arms, but I held him strong. He began banging the ground in a ditch effort to call for help. Everyone was asleep and the only guy who was wandering the area was either too far away or too angry to save him. Knuckles was gone.

Suddenly, I felt myself flying through the air. Looking up, I saw Ky standing over Knuckles, checking him. Knuckles was gasping desperately for air. Ky soothed him by rubbing his chest. I watched through blurred eyes, both from the pain in my head and the pain in my heart.

When Knuckles finally slept, Ky walked over to me. I stood up and met his eyes, though he was a few inches shorted than me. Through all we had done Ky always had a smile on his face, now he was angry. His face was so twisted with anger, I flinched a bit, but Ky didn't see it. "Get out," he whispered.

"You can't kick me out of here!" I growled.

"Get. OUT!"

I flinched again and nodded. I felt Ky's glare burning in my back as I exited the room. Sighing, I began to run. Running was something that always helped me. The skates kicked in after about ten feet and I was skating. I never understood why moving me feet helped, but I loved it. Over my whole life, I had never known the full joy of life, but I had never tried to take a life like that. I looked back in my mind. Knuckles was mouthing words at me, silently screaming to be let go. The horror in his eyes when they met my own, crazed expression.

I shook my head. It was in the past. I chuckled a bit. All of this was in the past. I halted at the gate of the city. Staring through it, I let my mind wander. I went back to the ARK, not 50 years ago, but a mere four.

"_It's all going according to plan. There's no reason for me to help them."_

"_They always have a reason to be happy; that's why you should help them out."_

"_Give them a chance."_

"_That's the reason you were brought into this world_. _Sayonara, Shadow, the Hedgehog."_

"I failed."

I lifted my head, aware of someone standing beside me. There was a hand on my shoulder. "Shadow, life can be cruel." I looked over to see a black figure standing beside me.

"Quiden?"

She nodded. "I heard about you and Knuckles. I'm sorry he's not coming back with you, but he does belong with Echidnas."

"How. .?"

"Ky always makes noises when he enters the library to sleep." I cocked my head. "Ky's homeless. He has no family in the Tribe." I widened my eyes. "They're not dead, if that's what you are thinking. They betrayed our Tribe. We told Ky they were dead, though, to save him the pain of knowing his parents were traitors. So, he lives in library."

I nodded. "I have no family," I whispered.

"Oh," Quiden said softly. "I'm so sorry. What happened to them?"

I shook my head. "I never had a family. No parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, or anything like that."

"But, how?"

Suddenly, I didn't care if she thought I was crazy. I told her everything. She listened with pure interest. My entire story slipped out, even the junk about Doom. When I finished, it was deathly silent. I knew she thought I was crazy.

Quiden nodded. "I believe you."

I was taken aback. "Yo. . .You what?"

"I believe you." People in my own time would have trouble believing that story and here, in the past with no technology, a female echidna that existed 300 years ago believed my story. I smiled. "Thank you," I said.

"No problem. No one from my time could come up with that story off the top of their heads. I'm sorry about your loss." All I did was nod. "Are you returning to your time?"

"When the sun rises."

She nodded. "Good-bye, Shadow," she said and turned and disappeared into the pitch black night. I wandered until I found Tails. He was sitting in a tree, crying.

"Tails," I called. He looked up at me and had this terrified look on his face. "You saw." He nodded. "Do you want to leave now?" He nodded again. "Come on."

Without saying a word, the twin-tailed fox jumped from the tree. Without looking back, we walked out of the city. I lifted my Chaos Emerald to my face and Tails gripped my shoulder. He nodded, signaling he was ready. We just walked. How long we walked is beyond me. When we were well into the woods, I quietly whispered, "Chaos Control."

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I was expecting to see the Shrine. I had expected to be where we had left, but we were definitely NOT on Angel Island. Tails had recovered from the warp before I had. He was staring blankly at the ruins, but they were the Mystic Ruins. We were standing in the middle of a ruined city. I gulped. "Where are we?" I whispered. Tails shook his head. I looked around as well. The street we were standing on had no cars, not that it was able to be driven on in the first place. The median beside us had a dead, black tree on it and the grass was nothing more than brown blades. 

But what scared me the most was the sky. It was a greyish-red color and there was black and brown clouds gathering. The air was hot and heavy, but it looked as if no rain had happened on this place in years. The air was also almost unbearable. I could feel the pollution in the sky. Tails began coughing violently. I walked over to him and began banging his back until he caught his breath. I was used to breathing air similar to this, so it had no effect on me. There was not a soul in sight. Once again I was wondering where we were.

Tails backed away from me and ran. "Tails! We need to stick together!" I yelled. I chased after him, cursing his name. He was terrified and he had lost a friend in the process. I figured he knew Knux was dead, considering the time change. "TAILS!"

I became aware of the sound of feet behind my silent skate strokes. I didn't look back, too concerned that Tails would change direction while I was looking back. The fox was not as fast as me, but I, on the other hand, couldn't fly. I often caught up with him, but he would jump and fly, then I would slow up so he would land and we continued this until we reached the water.

Tails halted with a loud scream. I stopped as well, grabbing him, but he didn't say anything. He was staring out at the water. I looked at it as well. Once again, I was well aware of the sound of heavy breathing behind us. The water was dark crimson with greenish-brown swirls in it. It reminded me of puke mixed with blood. (Graphic, I know!) Dead, decaying fish, and bones, were floating at the top of the water. Tails turned away from me, bent over and threw up. I rubbed his back until he finished. He stood up strait and both of us stared out into the green and red soup that used to be the ocean.

"Sad, isn't it?" A voice said behind us. I spun around, ready to fight. All I saw was a swift blur of brown-ish fur. I heard Tails scream again, but it was cut off as he fell to the ground. I looked desperately for our attacker, but didn't see it. Suddenly, my world exploded into a white light that turned red. I fell to the ground as the red glow slowly faded into black.

_Author's note: A reminder, the next chapter will be up in about 2 weeks, sorry! Please R&R!_


	6. No More Cream Cheese

_Author's note: A little earlier, but I'm sure you are glad about that!_

_Chapter Six: No More Cream Cheese_

When I woke up the first thing I was aware of was the splitting head ache. Tails was nowhere in sight and I was laying on the floor of some building that the roof was burned half way off. From what I could tell, it was night time. There was no stars, or moon. The sky wasn't navy blue, but pitch, unbroken black. I shuddered. It was nearly as hot as it was when we arrived. The temperature had only dropped a degree or two.

I tried to sit up, but was quickly over come by a blinding pain in my head. Who ever knocked me out had a strong hand to brag about. After a good while of staring into the pitch black sky, I attempted to sit up again. This time I succeeded. I looked around. The 'house' I was in had one couch in the center of a small room, a plie of blankets in one corner and a stove on the other side with a small book case beside it half filled with cans and the other half with worn, old books.

There was someone in the bed. I stood and walked over to the blankets that served as the bed. The girl was wearing a white blouse with a black skirt. Her hair was tied up in three hair ties and went down past her knees. I didn't recognize the animal, but she was a light brown color. I shook me head and held in a yell as it awakened the pain there. I slowly looked around the small house for Tails. He wasn't in sight. "Hoover," I whispered.

Suddenly, I had one hand behind my back and the other being twisted. I let out a loud yell as the force of the twist nearly broke my arm. "UNCLE!" I yelled, hoping it would work. The pressure stopped, but my arms weren't released. "What is your problem?" I asked angrily, ripping my arms away from my attacker. I had made a lot of mistakes since the beginning of my journey, but this had to be the worst.

I was on the floor, face down, feeling the blows of whoever thought it was a good idea to attack me. I lifted my head and yelled, "CHAOS SPEAR!" (Author's note: Or Disappear) The blows stopped and they got off my back. I stood, slowly, and looked at my attacker for the first time. It was the female who had been sleeping on the bed. My back and head were burning and my vision was blurred. "Who are you," I whispered.

The girl sighed. "Name's Cream. You?"

I nearly passed out there. Cream? That little rabbit that had that little Chao? The same rabbit that always said "sorry" and "excuse me" was the one who had attacked Tails and I? "Shadow," I answered, holding out my hand. My goodness, she looked like she was twenty! Wasn't she six the last time I saw her? It was only then that I realized that her 'hair' was actually her ears. She took my hand and shook it firmly. "I had a fox with me," I began.

"He's outside, I think," Cream answered. She noticed I was staring blankly at her. "Got a problem, hedgehog?" She spat the word 'hedgehog' with hatred.

"No," I whispered and walked outside. Tails was staring blankly in the sky. I sat beside him and neither of us spoke for at least two hours Cream finally walked out. "Thought you two had fled by now," She said, sitting beside me. "I remember stars." I looked at the unbroken sky.

"What happened?" I asked suddenly. She jerked her head up. "Sorry, gosh."

She shrugged. "Nothing, just some crazed freak-o took over the world. What planet are you from?"

"Actually, I'm from the Black Comet and the ARK, Tails is from Earth, I think. . ."

"The Comet? ARK? How old are you?"

I shrugged. "Around 54, I guess, why?"

Cream looked at me. "The Black Comet was destroyed 14 years ago! So was the ARK! Nothing survived it, and everything that was taken sixty years ago was destroyed, including a black and red hedgehog called Project: Shadow."

I blinked. "I am Project: Shadow." Cream flinched in disbelief.

"Project: Shadow is dead! We were all shocked that he killed him! We all figured he would want a hedgehog in his twisted world." She pointed to the sky.

"Who's he?" Both of us turned. I had completely forgotten that Tails was even here, let alone listening.

"We don't speak his name," Cream answered.

"Who's we, then?" I asked.

"Me actually. There are no more animals like me."

"Team Chaotix?"

"Dead."

"Eggman, or Robotnick?"

"Dead."

"Amy?"

"Dead."

"Sonic?" Tails asked, with a pleading voice.

"Gone."

I stared at her. "Who did this?"

"He did. Our dictator did all of this," She answered darkly.

"Who is your dictator?" Tails asked. "And who are. . ." He stopped short, looking at Cream. "Cream?" He whispered

Cream jumped. "How do you know my name?" She hissed.

_Not good, not good not good! _I thought. More time travel? What did we do this time?

"It's me, Miles Prower!" Tails said.

Cream shook her head. "I don't recall knowing a Miles Prower," she said simply.

"Where's Cheese?" I asked.

She glared at me with stone eyes. "Cheese is dead, along with my mother and everyone else! Only humans survived! Team Chaotix was the first to go. Our Dictator went for the first attempt to take over the world and was brought down by Chaotix. They were dead within a week. Robotnick stopped him the second time. He died within a week. Within three months, every animal was killed, other then my mother and my father. After having me, they were destroyed. A little while later, I found Cheese. He was killed a few years ago. On the third attempt, years ago, he succeeded."

"Who is he?" Tail screamed.

"We do not speak his name, boy! We only call him Dictator!" Cream snapped.

"How did this happen?"

"He got a hold of something called the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald," Cream answered.

"Because there was no one to guard it," I whispered. I could have slapped Knuckles and at that moment I wished I had killed him.

Cream stared at me. "What?" She asked.

"Nothing. Let me talk to Tails alone, please."

Cream nodded and walked inside.

"Tails, we've messed up, big time! Will Chaos Control work again?"

"NO! Shadow we are dead in this world! The time Stream doesn't know what to do with us! For all we know, it will send us to the exact points we die. No Chaos Control," Tails snapped.

"Tails, we can't tell her we are from the past. From what I gather, we are only ten years ahead of our time. How do we get back?"

"We need the Master Emerald. In theory, it would fix this completely, getting Knuckles back for us and mending the Time Stream. But we only have about a tem percent chance of fixing the time stream."

"And the other 90?" I asked.

"The Time Stream will dump us into a black hole and we suffocate or blow up from the pressure differences."

I rolled my eyes. "Great."

_Author's note: I know it was short, but it's the best I can do when my brain is fried from Band Camp!_


	7. Future Worlds

_Author's note: Hey! Hopefully this one will be better! My brain has recovered!_

_Chapter Seven: Future Worlds_

To say Cream and I were nice to Tails would be to say that Sonic and Eggman were best friends. It just didn't happen. During the night, the sky stayed unbroken and black and during the day, it was a marble black, reddish-grey and white pattern. I didn't really understand the coloration of the sky. Cream had tried to explain it, but I wasn't getting it. Some how the pollution from Dictator's reign had discolored the sky and ocean.

Tails had locked himself in the "backyard" of Cream's living space. Since I held a Chaos Emerald when we arrived, technically, there were eight in this world. Tails would spend hours running small tests over that thing. I doubted he even thought it would work, since it was the eighth, and there were only seven. Neither of us would allow Cream to lay eyes on the emerald. We weren't about to explain to her that we were time travelers. I just wanted to get home, and Tails just wanted Knuckles back. Strangely, so did I.

Two days after our arrival, Cream decided to show us around the town. Sadly enough to say, we were in Station Square. Cream led us through the once familiar streets. Tails was quick to get lost. He stopped often to look at old buildings. The one he grieved the most for was the train station. I didn't understand how someone could do this. Neither of us bothered asking Cream how any of this happened. We would get a blank stare, so we just acted like we understood what was going on, though we had no earthly idea what was happening.

We spent the most time at the docks. Tails was still rummaging through the rubble of the Train station. Cream sat beside me as I stared out into the red and green water. We didn't speak for a good while. What do you say? I had nothing to add to this.

"So, you are Project Shadow?" Cream asked after a while.

I nodded. "Yes, sadly." I answered quietly. "Are they really all dead and gone?"

"Every last one of them, Project Shadow."

"Please, just call me Shadow," I said.

Cream nodded. "I told you the short version of our history. The story of this world is far more gruesome." I pricked my ears, ready for the story. She shook her head. "Sorry, palbut we are forbidden to speak of how he took over the world."

I was a bit shocked at that. "Aren't most dictators happy to hear about how their plans were completed?" I asked.

Cream shook her head again. "He's evil, but different," she whispered, as if she was afraid to speak of this Dictator.

"I'm sorry about Cheese," I whispered, for lack of a better thing to say.

She shrugged. "It's in the past, Shadow. You can' change the past."

I laughed with hollow humor. "Wanna bet?" I spat bitterly.

She turning to look at me. I was still laughing. How ironic! This world was created because we did change the past and here was someone who was telling me time travel was impossible. "Are you ok?" She asked. I nodded, but didn't stop laughed. There was truly nothing to laugh about. Was this how it felt to go insane?

That though jolted me out of my laughing fit. Was I going insane? Can I go insane? Have I already crossed that thin line between insane and sane? Was there no turning back? I picked myself up and ran. Cream yelled after me, but I didn't listen, nor care. Pushing Tails, I jumped into the half collapsed train station. There was still some track left. I jumped on it and ran. The Mystic Ruins was my goal.

No one came after me. There was a sign in the tunnel explaining that the Ruins were off limits. I really didn't care at that moment in time, I just wanted out and out now. Ramming my way through the barricadesand hurting myself very badly.

I didn't even know why I was freaking out so badly. Tears spilled down my face and I couldn't stop them, but most of all, I didn't even know why I was even crying so hard. Did sanity slip away so painfully? I didn't know. There are many times is life when things just have to come out and I guess this was one of those times, but I never cried! Was I really that afraid to lose my mind, the one thing I had never really had after the ARK? Was I really that afraid to go back into that pit that I had lived in for so long? What ever the reason, I was freaking out without a reason I was aware of.

I jumped off the tracks and down onto the dead grass of the Mystic Ruins. I was shocked by what I saw. In front of me, where the water fall had been, there was just a large hole. After closer examination, I found the hole was filled with the same colored liquid as the ocean, but this had a horrible stench coming from it. I stepped away from the shallow pool of rotting water, if that is indeed possible.Angel Island, which was sometimes visible in the sky this time of year, was out in the red ocean. The mountain that was on it was all brown, from what I could see. I spun around to where Tails' workshop used to stand. The two hills leading to the summit that the workshop used to stand on were gone. It was just flat, dead land.

There was nothing left in the Ruins. I walked slowly over to the trolley. Without even bothering with the trolley, I began walking down the tracks. When I emergedfrom the tunnel, I backed back into in. It was like looking out at a desert. The once dense jungle of the Mystic Ruins was now a sand pit. I shuddered. The Temple I had marveled at a few days ago was nothing more than a huge pile of crumbled stone. I shook my head and jumped off of the platform above the desert. Landing, I continued running.

Once again, I became aware of foot steps behind me. I spun around this time and came face-to-face with someone I had never seen before. The red armadillohalted right before hitting me. "You aren't welcome here, Hedgehog!" He snapped.

"Well, aren't we snappy?" I growled. I didn't stop to think about how happy Cream would be to see another animal literally running around here.

The armadillo took a step back, sizing me up, I guess. "You aren't welcome here!" He snapped again.

"Make me leave!" I yelled. I wanted a fight and if this armadillo was ready for one, well, so was I.

The armadillo took on a fighting stance. "Was that a challenge?" He snarled.

"You bet it was!"

He lunged. I smiled and counter attacked him. He growled at my speed and I hissed at his. He lunged again. Whoever this was obviously didn't know who I was. Against Tails' wishes and my better judgement, I had taken the Chaos Emerald with us today. I held it out. "Chaos Spear!" I yelled, halting the armadillo in mid-flight as the bolt zapped him. He growled, staring at the Chaos Emerald. "Dictator!" He screamed.

I flinched. My mind fled back to my dream that had scared me so much. Was it possible? Could I be the dictator? Could this be my world?

The armadillo took advantage of me pause and before I knew what was going on, I was rolling on the sandy ground. Standing up, I realized I had a huge gash in my right arm. I looked at the armadillo. He was holding a jagged piece of glass. Fresh blood dripped from the make-shift weapon. I growled and lunged again, carefully avoiding a swipe from the glass. We began biting and scratching. My own arm screamed from the pain of the fight. The armadillo was taking on heavy damage as well. Both of us were willing to fight to the death and neither of us were willing to give up the fight.

The fight raged for what seemed like hours. My body was tired and weak from blood loss and the armadillo wasn't in any better condition. Between the Chaos Spears, the kicking, punching, biting and the being bashed over the head with my emerald, I think he picked up some pretty bad damage. Finally, we both collapsed, unable to stand again. I gripped my emerald and the armadillo gripped his piece of glass.

"Who. . are you?" I gasped between breathes.

"Name's Mighty," the armadillo answered, as out of breath as I was.

"I thought the signs said the Ruins were off limits," I asked. Strange; Weren't we just killing each other?

"Yeah, well, the Dictator can't control everything," Mighty answered.

"I'm not the Dictator," I said simply.

"You're not? You look like him," Mighty said.

"I do?" I asked.

"What planet are you from? You are not from Earth if you don't know who the Dictator is."

I shrugged. "Long story, Mighty."

"Ok, your turn. Who are you?"

"Name's Shadow!"

Mighty nearly jumped back in surprised. "Did you say Shadow, as in Project Shadow?" He asked.

"Um. . . . Yeah," I said with a shrug.

"Do you know who you are!" Mighty asked.

"Uh, Shadow?" I answered.

"Wow! You must be really confused." Mighty said, relaxing a bit.

"Yeah, I'm a bit confused on what's going on here. Can you tell me anything?"

Mighty shook his head. "Nope! Sorry. I've been living in the Ruins for so long, I don't even remember Station Square that well. The Dictator ended my traveling days. I'm lucky to be alive."

"So, you are hiding?" I asked, looking at him.

He shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I can't do much against the Dictator and his army. Up until we fought, I thought I was the last living animal around, let alone last living creature in the Ruins."

"Yeah, well, I think I can help with that," I said.

Mighty glared at me. "How, hedgehog!" He spat.

"Ok, we're back where we started," I said, trying to sit up. I groaned bitterly with the effort but managed to get up and on my feet. I grabbed my spinning head. "Man, you are one fighter."

"Not so bad yourself." Mighty groaned as well, trying to sit up. I grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet.

I smiled. "We aren't getting out of here anytime soon, eh?" I asked.

Mighty shook his head. "No, that latter isn't is working condition, but I do know another way out."

The armadillo limped away from me. "Am I welcome now?"

"I still don't trust you, but yeah, you may come with me."

I followed him through the barren waste land. I looked around. There was nothing left of the Ruins, except, well, Ruins. The trees were gone and the grass had turned into hard, dry sand. The sky had not changed. I felt terrible. "Wow, I can't believe this," I muttered.

Mighty rolled his eyes. "Wow, your smart!"

"Oh, shut up!" I snapped. Once again, back where we started. We walked to the wall where the ladder was.

I grabbed my head. "Hey, you ok?" I looked at my arm. Blood still oozed from the wound. "You need to lie down, Shadow." I looked at my hand. It was shaking. I sat down, leaning against the wall. "Look, I'm sorry," Mighty said.

"It's ok," I muttered. I closed my eyes and allowed my head to lay back on the wall. _Deep breathes, Shadow. Calm down. _I shook my head.

"_Help him!"_

I jolted awake. Mighty was staring at me. "Feel better?" He asked. I nodded.

"How long was I out?"

"Not long. About thirty minutes. You kept screaming 'I can't! I can't'. I didn't get it."

"Nightmare," I said, rubbing my head.

"It's getting dark. We need to get back to Station Square before the night patrols start."

"Ok." I stood up and followed the armadillo into the cave that led to the stinking blood red water hole.

_Author's note: Ok, personalities in this story are a bit wacky! Considering the situation, the personalities of the originals can change in this kind of setting._


	8. A Dream's Work

_Author's note: A little early for an update, but that's ok!_

_Chapter Eight: A Dream's Work_

Mighty and I walked, or limped, through the tunnel slowly. Neither of us talked. Neither of us had anything to say. My mind was still half asleep, the wound in my arm still bleed. Mighty had nothing on him to cover it up and neither did I.

About half way through, I announced that I needed a break. I hated having to sit down when the guy I beat up wasn't having as much trouble as I was. I rubbed my spinning head. Mighty sat beside me. "You sure you are ok?"

I nodded, then shook my head. I wasn't ok. I was stuck in the middle of the future with some Dictator, who could very well be me, ruling the world with an iron fists and everyone I could have considered friends were dead and I was losing my mind. I felt like a child who was scared of what might be lurking under his bed, or in his closet. A child who was too scared to leave the light off at night and when he woke up from a bad dream, he was too scared to leave the safety of his room because he feared what might be waiting for him down the long hallway leading to his parent's bed room.

I passed out again. My mind was finally resting, or at least I thought it was

_I was standing in the middle of thousands of fallen robots. The same figure from my first dream was standing beside me, panting. "Now what? Why do you keep calling me!" I yelled, but was aware of fatigue, as if I had really fought all those robots. I looked at my surroundings. The sky was a red-ish grey color and the ground was covered with dead grass. I gulped. This all look familiar. "What do you want?" I yelled at the figure beside me._

"_HELP HIM!" The figure yelled. Once again, I searched for Tails, but he was nowhere to be found. _

"_Where is he?" I asked. _

_The figure pointed to Tails' body. He was already dead. "I can't help him!" I yelled, looking at the dead fox. "What do you want with me?" Tears were going down my cheeks._

"_You have to help him!" _

"_I CAN'T!" I screamed, punching out at the figure. _

_I jumped back. "HELP HIM!" It screamed._

"_How?" I yelled._

"_Save him!"_

"_He's already dead! I can't save him! Who am I saving him from?" I wanted to scream, but I controlled it. _

_The figure turned to look at me. I screamed. It had no mouth, no face, and it's eyes had no pupils and where pure white, while the rest of the figure was black. "You," it hissed._

I bolted upright in a hurry, screaming bloody murder. Mighty had to tackle my and pin my down before I stopped screaming and thrashing. He had to bang me, hard, on the head before, as he described it, "my eyes came back to reality."

When he got off of me, I didn't move. I was breathing hard, too hard. I thought I was having a heart attackMy heart was beating so fast I thought for sure it would burst. My eyes were rolling, and I could hardly see anything. I was losing whatever grip I had on reality, and I didn't even know why.

If you were to ask Mighty, he would tell you my struggle lasted ten minutes in total and I didn't move for almost and hour. If you were to ask me, I would tell you all that happened over what seemed like years.

When I finally sat up, calm enough, Mighty was staring, wide-eyed at me. I swallowed and looked at him. "Are you ok?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Nightmare," I whispered.

"Don't give me that again! What did you dream about?"

I glared at him, but before I could stop it, I told him. Both dreams came out of my mouth. By the time I was done describing them, I was crying. I turned away. I wasn't going to cry in front of this guy, who has had it ten times worse than I have.

"Do you care for this fox?"

I shook my head. "No," I snapped. True, I might cry if he died, but his death in my dreams wouldn't scare me this much.

"It seems like you do," Mighty said. I rolled my eyes. "Shadow, I can't interpret your dreams, but someone is trying to tell you to protect that fox of yours."

"FROM WHAT?" I screamed. It echoed through the tunnel.

"I don't know! It's your dream!" Mighty retorted angrily.

"Look, I'm sorry. I don't want to kill him. Sure, he's annoying, but I won't kill him. My dreams all suggest I will be the death of that fox, but I don't want to kill him."

Mighty shrugged. "Ever thought you have an evil twin running around here? Maybe you aren't Shadow and the real Shadow is evil and will kill your fox."

"Get serious, man!"

Mighty took a deep breath. "Maybe it's not suggesting _you _will be the death of him. Dreams work strangely. They all seem to be telling you to help him. Maybe if you don't help him, he'll die."

"What am I helping him with?"

Mighty shrugged. "I have no idea. You say in your first you killed him, right?" I nodded. "And in the second dream, your 'figure' told you that you need to save him from yourself. So one way or the other, you are the death of him. It looks like you have a dark side lurking in you."

I looked at him. _Black Hearted Evil. Brave Hearted Hero_. "I am all, I am all, I am"

Mighty cocked his head. "Huh?"

"Nothing," I answered quickly.

"There could be another reason to those dreams."

"Really?" I asked. I did not like the idea of being the death of Tails.

"Yeah. Is it possible that you could be symbolizing someone else?"

I shook my head, though that wasn't entirely true. There was one other person I could symbolize, but as far as I was concerned, he no longer existed. "No. I can't symbolize anyone else."

"Is it possible, then, that you do have a second form?"

I shrugged. "It might." _Considering the form I'm in doesn't exist in this world! _I added silently.

Mighty groaned. "I don't know what to tell you Shadow, but these dreams are scaring you silly. I had to bang your head on the tracks to get you to calm down."

I put my hand on the back of my head and brought it back. The white glove was stained with blood. I shook my head.

"Hey, I'm sorry. You were going to kill yourself if you kept that up, and you might have killed me," Mighty explained.

"I'm not mad at you." I stood up on shaky legs. "Let's go. Cream is mostly worried sick."

"Cream?"

"She's a rabbit. You'll meet her and my fox," I said and led the way.

"Are you sure you are ok. We can rest some more."

I shook my head. "Well rest when we find Cream and Tails"

"Tails?"

"My twin-tailed fox. Pay attention Mighty," I growled.

"Don't get mad at me because you can't sleep without screaming."Mighty growled.

I wanted to lunge for him again, but I controlled myself the best I could. "Just shut up! This had been very stressful."

"Stressful! Do you have any idea what life is like by yourself?"

"YES!" I screamed. "I know how it feels to have no one in your life, so shut up! I know exactly what you went through! I slept for 50 blasted years of my life, so don't talk to me about alone! When I woke up, everything I knew was gone! Then I fell to Earth to lose my memory, so yes, Mighty, I know what it feels like to live life without anyone! And I'm not about to lose anyone else!"

The speech shocked me as much as it did Mighty. According to this world, non of that could have happened. According to him, I was crazier than who ever took over this dump. And yes, I was talking about Tails. I had lost everything, and that dumb fox seems to be the last thing I have left, so I wasn't about to lose him as well as everything else I had ever known in my life.

Mighty looked at me. "Are you ok?" He asked again.

"Is that all you can say!" I yelled.

"Dude, non of that could have happened."

I explained, everything. I started with my creation and went from there. He didn't believe a single word of it.

"You are crazy! Time travel is impossible!"

I laughed, but stopped myself this time. "Tell that to Tails. Please don't tell Cream about this. She already thinks I'm nuts."

"You are nuts! But ok, I won't tell anyone about your crazy theory," Mighty said. "Let's go, Shadow. We don't want Cream to worry.

We walked out of the Train Station. Cream was where I had left her. "Shadow!" She yelled and ran over to me. "Who's this?"

"Name's Mighty, madam." Mighty said, slightly bowing his head. I chuckled.

Cream smiled. "I'm glad you are back. Come on, we must get inside now!"

Might was looking at the city with a shocked expression. "The Dictator did all of this."

Cream nodded and turned to leave.

It was then when I realized we were missing someone. "Where's Tails?"

Cream spun aroundShe cocked her head. "I thought he went after you..."


	9. The Dictator's Lair

_Author's note: I like this chapter! I hope you do to!_

_Chapter Nine: The Dictator's Lair_

"Ah!" I yelled as I threw my fist into a wall. The search for the fox was not going very well.Needless to say, Tails did not go after me. After I ran, we figured out that the fox went on a flight of his own. Where he went is a different story.

"Shadow, the wall didn't do anything," Mighty said. I had found he was very sarcastic at times, which got really annoying.

"Shadow, he is correct, the wall did not deserve punishment," Cream whispered. She was getting very edgy because she keeps saying that we shouldn't be out of here after dark.

"Leave me alone," I snapped. Mighty rolled his eyes and Cream sighed.

"AAHH!"

I looked up. "Did you hear that?" Cream asked. Mighty and I nodded. "Let's go!"

We ran towards the scream, not quite sure what we would find, or even if it was a trap, but why would the dictator let Cream live just to kill her later? Maybe he had a sick definition of fun. Whatever and whoever the scream was from, we ran towards it

"Shadow! Cream!" A voice yelled.

"Tails!" Cream and I yelled together.

The fox came running around the corner. His left tail was twisted in an awkward angle and blood poured from a wound in his head. I gulped. "RU N!" He yelled, limping away. I stared at Mighty and Cream, and we followed our orders. We ran.

I caught up with the wounded fox. "What happened?" I asked. He wasn't talking. His eyes were wide with fear.

I spun around and began a backwards run. Mighty was caring Cream, considering the rabbit wasn't that fast of a runner. Behind them was about five robots. Their design was one I'd never seen. They looked like the robots from _I, Robot_ except they had what looked like jet packs on their backs. I looked at Tails. "And you led them to us!" I yelled. Tails nodded, but I didn't yell at him any more. We had to get away. "Mighty, get high!"

Mighty nodded. I grabbed Tails and jumped on a roof, after turning to run forward. The robots began to fly. I cursed angrily. "Might, split up!"

"Are you crazy!" Mighty yelled. "You want to split up? Shadow, we need to stay together!"

"NOW!" I yelled and turned right. Mighty growled and turned left. If Cream had anything to say, she didn't say it or I didn't hear her. Tails had his eyes glued to th people who were chasing us. "Come on!" I yelled, irritated.

Tails shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said.

"What happened?" I repeated.

"After you ran away, so did I. I knew Cream would stay and wait for you, so I decided to meet you guys back at the house, but I got lost."

"So you started yelling?"

Tails nodded. "And they found me and attacked. I think my tail is broken."

"Safe bet. Did any of them go after Mighty?"

Tails cocked his head. "Mighty's here?"

"Yes! Now, how many are chasing us?"

Tails looked over his shoulder. "Three."

I cursed and sped up, but I could tell those robots were fast. "Whose are they?" I asked.

Tails shrugged. "I've never seen that design before. But they're gaining!"

I kicked up the speed, but it was useless. "We have to stand and fight!" I yelled.

Tails shook his head. "NO! We'll never survive," he yelled, but I stopped. Tails whimpered, but jumped out of my arms and stood ready as well. The robots haltedThey seemed a bit confused that we had ended the chase.

"By order of your Dictator, you are under arrest," one of them said. They weren't monotone. They had expression in their voice.

"By what grounds?" I asked calmly.

"Out after dark, refusing to be questioned, attacking an officer, and disobeying direct orders to halt," the second robot said.

"Excuse me? You never told me to halt, you never said I needed to be questioned and I certainly didn't attack you! _You _attacked us, if anything! The only one we are guilty of is being out after dark, and we are on our way home."

The robot sighed. "Sir, you are under arrest."

I stood in a fighting stance. "Try and take me then!"

The robot nodded. "Very well. If that is what you want."

It was then that I realized that only two robots were. "MOVE!" I yelled. Tails jumped back and I spun just in time to see a white robotic hand come down in a karate chop on my neck.

* * *

When I woke up, my first worry was if the robot had broken my neck. I gently lifted my arm up. I didn't register that if I could move my arm, then my neck was most likely just very sore. I placed the hand on my neck and felt where I was hit. There was a huge bump, most likely a goose egg, though it felt more like an ostrich egg. It was a big one that extended the length of my neck. I winced as I moved my hand around the wound. Other than that, I seemed fine, except for a splitting head-ache, but that was understandable.

Where I was was a harder thing to deal with. It was a small, dark room and it seemed like I was the only one in there. Where was Tails? And Mighty and Cream? Did they get away? "Guys!" I yelled, finding it hard to speak.

"Shadow?" A voice asked.

"Who's there?"

"All of us. Are you ok? We've been calling to you for at least three hours!"

"I was out that long?"

"Yeah." The voice sounded like Cream's

"Why am I alone?" I asked.

"I think the Dictator's been waiting for you," Mighty answered for her.

"Now how would you know, armadillo guy?" Tails asked. I chuckled a bit. That fox know how to annoy people.

"Just because I've been living..."

"You mean hiding," Tails snapped.

"In the Mystic Ruins doesn't mean that I don't know who the Dictator is!"

"I'd like to know who he is!" I yelled. "Where are you guys?"

"In the cell beside you, dipwawd!" Cream snapped

"You don't have to snap at me! This isn't my fault. It's Tails'!"

"HEY! Just because I got scared this makes it automatically my fault! You're the one who decided it would be a great idea to stand and fight."

"Well, you little mutant, if you hadn't have dragged me to Angel Island then NONE of this would have happened!"

"Mutant?" Tails screamed. "That is it! Come over here and say that to my face, you mentally confused beast!"

"Oh, you want to do that now, Tails? Alright, you two-tailed freak of a fox! Or maybe you aren't a fox, maybe you're a chicken!"

Tails growled and there was a loud thud as he punched the wall. Funny, not too long ago I was screaming over his death, now I was about to kill him.

Once again, I had a flash back to my dream. Maybe it was trying to tell me that I _would _kill him. Maybe it was warning me that we got so mad at each other, that we got into a fist fight and I killed him.

"Well, Shadow, we are getting personal, now aren't we? Here's mine, you sorry piece of rotting..."

"_SILENCE!" _

I looked up, glad Tails was cut off by the sudden yelled.

"Your arguing is no longer to my amusement. I should not have put you so close to each other."

I sat back down. That voice sounded so familiar.

"Tails, can you place that voice?"

"Sorry, Shadow."

"That would be the Dictator." Cream said.

"I said 'silence'! Do not make me repeat myself again!" The Dictator yelled.

"Some one woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Mighty growled.

"SILENCE!" The Dictator screamed.

"Make me!" Mighty yelled back.

There was a cold, hard laugh. "You dare challenge me! Guards!"

"Mighty..." Cream said quietly.

"Oh, so you get your robots to do your dirty work, huh? Too scared to fight me, Chanic!" Mighty yelled with a laugh.

"You dare speak my name! You will be punished! Guards, take him away!"

Where have I heard that voice before? And who is Chanic? There was a loud bang, followed by a scream. Who screamed, I'm not sure. I heard Mighty say a few choice words, and then there was the unmistakable sound of snapping bone.

"Mighty!" Tails yelled.

"Is he ok?" I asked. I hated not being able to see, let alone help.

"No, he's hurt, bad!" Cream yelled back.

"What did they break?"

"I think they snapped his shin bone."

I winced. That bone was not easily broken, and having it snapped would be a killer. "Is he out?"

"Yes," Tails answered.

"Are the guards gone?"

"Yes, but I'm sure they will be back soon."

"You see," the Dictator, or Chanic, said "don't ever challenge your leader!"

"Oh yeah! Come down here and say that to me face!" I yelled, unable to control myself any longer. I wanted to know who this Chanic guy was. "You, not your stupid guards!"

"Oh, don't worry Shadow, we will meet in due time."

Right there! I recognize the voice. But it couldn't be, could it? "Tails?"

"I heard it," he answered.

"Now! Meet me now! I know who you are, Chanic!"

"You do? Then tell me, Shadow, who am I?"

"You tell me!" I yelled. At that point, I was still bluffing. I was close to placing the face with the voice, but it was still eluding me.

A door opened behind me. It was then that I got it. "Wait! You're..." I spun around. There stood Chanic, or the Dictator.

There was a laugh, long laugh. "Very good, Shadow, very good."

"No..."

_Author's note: I am SSOO mean! I'll get the next chapter up soon, but I'll leave you to ponder for atleast a week! Evil laughter_


	10. Chanic

_Author's note: Ha! FINALLY! The chapters you have all been waiting for! _

_Chapter Ten: Chanic_

I was strapped to a long table, an electric shock surging through my body. I didn't scream, nor wince in pain and waited it out. Finally, the shock ended. I was left laying there, gasping horribly for breath.

"Had enough, Project Shadow?"

I swallowed and through my deep gasping I managed to say "You can do what ever you want with me and I will never have enough." The torture had been going on for nearly an hour.

Chanic laughed. It was cold and harsh. "You are like me, aren't you?"

It was my turn to laugh, though it was weak and winded. "Actually, I would have to say _you _are like _me._ Considering I _am _older than you."

Chanic nodded. "Physically, Shadow, you are older than me, but mentally, you are still a child." He then glared at me. "I thought I had destroyed your capsule. I thought I had killed you!"

I smiled. "I could say the some thing about you."

The blue hedgehog looked confused for about half a second, then went back to his cold glare. "What are you talking about, Shadow?"

"You wouldn't remember, Sonic," I said.

Chanic flinched at his real name. "I haven't heard that name in years," he muttered. It was the first time I caught a soft edge to that voice. He clenched his fists. "You've never met me!"

I laughed again. "I knew you before you became this!" I yelled. "I knew you when you were a hero, Sonic! I knew you when you would be the one strapped to the table and _I _would be the one delivering the shocks through _you_!"

"Impossible!" Sonic yelled. "You have been in a capsule for sixty years!"

I smiled. I had hit a nerve. "This isn't real!" I screamed. "This is an alternate reality! This isn't what is suppose to happen! I'm the villain, not you!"

Another shock, ten time worse the last, surged through me body. This time, I screamed, and he didn't stop it when I did. He pushed the voltage up and made it all most unbearable. I screamed harder, knowing, somewhere in my head, that he would continue because I was screaming. "STOP!" I screamed. This reminded me of my creation. If you thought I was created without pain, you are sadly mistaken. Sonic turned up the voltage. A weaker person would most likely be dead by now, but I wasn't ready to submit to death just yet. And I certainly wasn't about to be killed by Sonic the Hedgehog. Not on my life and over my dead body! _Nice choice of words, _a voice hissed in my head. "Shut up," I growled.

The voltage stopped. I collapsed, bowing my head and gasping weakly for breath. Sonic was smiling. "I was wrong about you, Project: Shadow. You are much stronger than I thought." He placed his hand on the lever that turned the shock on. "Let's see how long you can last when the voltage is lethal to an elephant."

"No," I whispered without looking up. "Stop." I had lost. I couldn't believe it, but I was surrendering. "No more."

Sonic laughed again and walked over to me. "Good. You are wise to make that decision, Shadow."

"Why?" The word was barely over a whisper. I wasn't sure Sonic even heard it.

"Why was it wise? Because..."

"No!" I snapped, a little louder. "Why are you Chanic?"

"You want that story, Shadow, is that it?" Sonic asked, suddenly speaking a bit quieter. I weakly lifted my head and nodded. "Sit tight then, boy, for it will take a while."

I laughed. "I ain't going anywhere, Sonic."

"My name is Chanic!"

I jumped at the outburst. "Ok, gosh!"

He sighed. "Ok, this is my story..."

"This is my song," I whispered quietly.

Sonic, or Chanic, didn't seem to notice me comment. "When I was five, I was walking through the forest when I came across this island."

"Was it floating?" I asked. He didn't respond.

"Somehow, I made it to the island. It looked as if no one lived there, so I continued walking, not too concerned with where I had to be next. Back then I never cared. It didn't matter. Well, I was walking and found this huge shrine looking thing. I smiled and ran up to it, not knowing what it was. On top of it was this huge, green gem. There was also seven different colored jewels surrounding the giant rock. I gently lifted each one, feeling that this was a sacred place.

"I walked over to the big emerald. I was afraid to touch it, considering if I had been it's owner, I wouldn't want anyone touching my giant gem. After walking around it, I finally got the guts to touch the emerald green gem. I placed my hand on it and felt a shock, I tried to withdraw my hand, but something held it there. Emotions of rage and hate entered my brain, and it mixed with my confusion. You see, back then I was still debating on who I was. You know that time when you just want to belong?"

I nodded. I knew that feeling, but I never knew Sonic had once felt that way.

"When I withdrew my hand, I could feel the presence of another mind in my brain. This mind was full of anger and rage and hate. For what, I still don't know. A voice whispered to me during the night and after a week, the other mind's anger and my confusion fused. I became Chanic."

I stared, shocked. _Chaos? But, why?_ I thought. Chaos didn't have a reason to take control over anyone. "Did it control you?" I asked, hoping beyond hope that this was just Chaos in Sonic's body.

Sonic shook his head. "No. I embraced the new found energy from this thing called blind rage and hate. My heart and feelings became nothing of the matter and I ditched that little voice in your head that told you right from wrong. I was evil, and very proud of it. At the age six, I attempted to take over the world. Sadly, I was foiled by a crocodile and a chameleon. The next week, they were gone. Disappeared." He looked over at a knife that hung on the wall. It was a regular kitchen. One you would find in a regular home. I wince at the thought of what he did to Vector and Espio. Charmy wasn't born back then.

"And everyone else? You killed them too?" I asked, too afraid to ask.

Sonic nodded. "Over the course of the next year, I destroyed any of my race, or any animal I came across. I knew the military couldn't stop me, but those animals could."

"A fox of twin-tails, what did you do to him?" I asked.

Sonic lifted his head in thought. "I think I shot it's parents and drowned the child, why?"

I shivered. "No reason, continue."

Sonic shrugged off the comment. "At the age seven, I tried again. I figured since most of the little animal were gone, I would have no trouble. But a human did give me trouble. His name was Ivo Robotnick. He foiled my plans the second time. Two weeks after he foiled me, he suffered the same fate as the rest."

"I don't even _want _to know what you did to him." I growled.

"I decided, just in case I had missed someone, to take two years to plan my world conquest. At the age nine, I took over this planet."

"NINE!" I yelled. "You were nine?" I was shocked. _Oh, how the mighty have fallen._

Sonic shrugged again. "What? Nine was a good age. When I found out that a female rabbit had given birth to child, that same year, I thought nothing of it. But as my reign progressed, I did remember that I was defeated by two over sized lizards, so about four years later, I killed the young rabbit's parents, leaving the child and her little chao for dead."

"And why did you kill Cheese?" I asked.

"You are very impatient, give me a moment," Sonic snapped. "As I was saying, I had kept the Chao alive, for some reason the side in which the anger came from wouldn't allow me to touch them. But two years after I killed that rabbit's parents, I had gained full control of my own body. The fusion was complete and I was stronger then the emerald. I killed all the Chao. I couldn't stand those little creatures, even the dark ones. The emerald was not happy about this. The rage turned from an onymous source to me, but like I said, I was stronger than what ever was in my brain. I took control over the new rage and basked is the new source. The emerald tried to withdraw from me, but I wouldn't allow it. I have created this world! Is it not glorious?"

"GLORIOUS!" I screamed, struggling against my restraints. "No! You have destroyed this world, SONIC!" I spat the name. Sonic flinched again. I guess he wasn't used to being yelled at. "You haven't done anyone any favors! You have killed your friends, partners and family! You have taken advantage of a powerful force. You aren't a villain, you are a hero! You aren't meant to destroy the world, you were meant to save it! This isn't your life! If anything, this is mine!"

That statement jolted me worse than Sonic's electric shocks. _Yeah. Is it possible that you could be symbolizing someone else? _

I had answered "no" to that question, but I was symbolizing some one else. My dreams weren't telling me to protect Tails from myself, they were telling me to protect him from Sonic! I was refereed to as the Dark Sonic for some time and my I was symbolizing that Sonic was evil and he would kill anyone for anything.

Sonic was staring at me. "And what did you do with the ARK?" I asked.

He laughed. It was back to being cold again. "The ARK? Destroyed."

"But, the Black Comet!"

"Used the E-Cannon to destroy it before it ever entered Earths atmosphere."

I could have kicked myself. The one time I'm dead and they skip the whole Black Doom incident.

"Shadow, what were you ranting about. Me, a hero?"

"Yes," I growled. "You were a hero. In another time and another place." The statement was very true. It was another time, and another place.

"Yeah, right! What are you? From the future?"

"Past," I whispered.

"Pardon?" Sonic said, walking back over to the voltage machine.

"Nothing." The word was lost in a terrible scream as he turned the lever and electricity surged through my body with extreme force. I knew he had put it as high as it could go.

"Good-bye, Shadow the Hedgehog," Sonic said. His voice was dripping with frozen venom. I knew this was it. He wouldn't turn it off evenif I begged him to. I stopped screaming, too weak to care about the pain. The last thing I saw before slipping away was Sonic's face, grinning in victory.

_Author's note: I'm aware that Chaos can not take over people, this is a "What if" Story. And yes, according to this story, nothing in ANY games ever happened. Tails was killed when he was less than a year old. (If I have the ages right, which I should_, _if I don't then oops!) Any other things that might not be able to happen in the game world, can happen in this story. I hope I shocked you with Chanic, if I didn't, I need to reconsider writing suspense! Thank you all. Next chapter should be up pretty soon. There should be at least three left. Bye!_


	11. Never Look Back

_Chapter Eleven: Never Look Back _

_Author's note: This chapter is a bit heavy. Enjoy!_

"Shadow?"

I heard it, but I wasn't believing it. "Alive?" I whispered. If don't even know if I said it out loud. I don't really remember much about what happened, I just knew, at that point, I wasn't suppose to be alive.

"Yes, alive," a voice answered.

"But, how?" I asked, still keeping my eyes closed.

"Look, Shadow, you are burned from head-to-toe. What ever Chanic did to you, you are lucky to be alive." It was Tails speaking to me. Suddenly, it all came flooding back. Chanic was Sonic and he had nearly killed me, again.

"Sonic..." I whispered.

Tails sighed. "No, we are still in the past, Shadow. Sonic's dead," Tails said with a sigh.

My eyes snapped open and I sat up, ignoring the blinding pain that shot through my entire body. "No!" I yelled.

Tails placed his hand on my chest and gently pushed me back into a laying position. I struggled against him, but knew I was no match for him at the moment. "Shadow, just calm down. You aren't fit to do anything but rest. Chanic nearly killed you!"

"_Sonic_ nearly killed me!" I yelled, but it was still weak.

"Sonic is dead!" Tails said.

"Yeah, you weren't in that room with him. Sonic is Chanic! Or vise versa, either way, your best friend has become your worst enemy." I said, not really caring what I sounded like to him any more.

"Shadow, I kn ow you've been through a lot, but that gives you no right..."

"Rights? RIGHTS! Don't talk to me about rights, kid! I'm sitting here, on the verge of death because your best friend is a psycho path!" I yelled.

Tails growled, but didn't speak. He stood up and took a step towards me. "Shadow, is that what you have been dreaming about?"

I glared at him. "Yes... No!" I grabbed my head. "Tails, he killed you!"

I let out a yell of pain as the fox struck me across the face. I shook my head and closed my eyes. "Tails, it's true," I muttered.

He didn't speak. I looked up to see him walking to the other side of the large cell we were in. "Where's Cream and Mighty?" I asked.

Tails glared at me. "Cream's over there, sleeping. Mighty is gone, as far as we know."

"Gone as in dead?" I asked. Tails nodded. I bowed my head. "Great," I whispered. "How?"

"The guards came back after you were taken away. We heard a few snaps of bones and figured it was his neck. A few hours later, you were brought back here. At first we thought you were dead, but then you started mumbling in your sleep. Cream went to sleep and told me to tell you what happened if and when you woke up. So there, that's what happened!"

"Mighty's dead?" I asked again.

"As far as we know, Shadow," Tails snapped. "But who is Chanic?"

I growled. "I told you." I said.

"I want the truth!"

"I gave you the truth!"

"I want the truth!" Tails screamed. Cream sat up quickly.

"About what?" She asked.

"About who Chanic is," Tails and I said at the same time.

"Well, his real name is Sonic, but we mostly call him Dictator because he doesn't like to be called either, as you clearly saw with Mighty," Cream answered.

I looked at Tails. The visible skin beneath his fur paled and he sat by the back wall. I tried to stand, but was instantly stopped by pain through out my entire body. I looked down at my arm. _Well, _I thought, _if I wasn't black before, I'm sure as rain black now._ Groaning I lowered myself back into a laying position and slipped into the darkness again.

_Once again, I was standing in the middle of a field of "dead" robots. I groaned, feeling the burns and found myself with many open wounds. The worst was the one on my arm. My bone was clearly visible under the ripped skin and muscle."Now what?" I growled, but I was alone this time. "Hey!" I yelled, but there was no answer. What was going on? I looked around, but found no one._ _"Some one want to explain what I'm doing here?" No answerer. "HELLO?" My voice echoed through the barren world. Suddenly, coming over the hill was the cloaked figure from my first dream. I sighed. At least some one was in this dream. He walked over to me, keeping his hood on. I gulped, preparing myself to see my face under that hood, but he never took the hood off. "Are you here to explain this dream?" I asked. The hooded figure shook his head. "Ok, so why are you here?"_

"_Run," the figure whispered._

"_Run?" I asked. This was new for these dreams. Mostly they were about me trying to save Tails, but 'run'?_

"_Run," this time the command was a hiss. I backed up._

"_Why?" I asked, getting a bit uncomfortable. "What about Tails?" _

"_You are too late," the figure growled. He pointed to a tiny skeleton. It was one of a young twin-tailed fox. The body was tiny and I knew it was a baby. _

"_But that isn't him!" I said. "None of this is real! This is an alternate reality! He is alive!"_

_The figure laughed. "Wanna bet?" He pointed past the skeleton of the fox to a mauled body of an older version of the skeleton. The fox was no longer yellow-ish orange, but was blood red. I shivered and looked at the large gash in my arm, and then looked at Tails. In his hand was a sharp edge of a weapon. Had we fought? Why was this happening?_

"_What do you want from me?" I screamed._

"_RUN!" _

_I turned and fled. I ran ten feet and tripped over something. I looked and screamed. It was the mauled bodies of Cream and Mighty. "What do you want from me?" I screamed again and continued running. I wasn't sure how long I had been running, but I had to stop. I wasn't suppose to feel anything, but I felt exhausted and felt the blood loss. _

_I placed my hand on something and stood there, trying to catch my breath. The thing I placed my hand on was cold and smooth. I looked up to see a capsule. I felt sick. Taking my hand I wiped away the dirt from the glass capsule. When I saw what was in there, I let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead. . ._

"SHADOW!" I woke with a start. There were robots all in the cell. They were all staring at me. I looked at them. Tails and Cream were staring wide-eyed at me. Cream cautiously walked over to me. "Are you ok?"

I was in a cold sweat and was panting. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Good," One of the robots said. "Then you will come with us."

"What?" Cream and Tails asked together.

"Exactly like they said. 'What?'" I asked.

"Our leader would like to have a few more words with you." The robot answered

"Over our dead bodies," Cream growled. Tails nodded.

"Very well. If that is how you wish to have it." The robot lunged. I quickly jumped up and kicked the bot to the wall. It exploded, leaving a large hole in the wall.

"Let's go!" I yelled. Cream and Tails smiled and we ran out of the lair. I winced at the blinding pain in my body as we ran. Tears were slipping silently down my face as I reopened the wounds and burns. Cursing I picked up speed.

After about ten minutes of running, we were out of the city and into the outskirts. I stopped dead. We were in a clearing with a hill near the end. There, standing on top of the hill was Sonic in a black cloak. I inhaled sharply. "Oh, gosh," I whispered.

"Shadow, hurry up!" Tails yelled. I was frozen. My eyes darted around. My breath was coming out very fast and short.

"No," I whispered. "NO!" Tails and Cream halted.

"Are you ok?" They asked.

"Run," I whispered.

Tails looked at me. "Run?"

"RUN!" I yelled, but it was too late. Robots were closing in on us from all sides.

"Stand and fight!" Cream yelled. I nodded and the battle begun. A robot ran at me. I jumped and let it go underneath me. When it's head got right under me, I kicked through it, hoping for an explosion. I got none. The bot collapsed and that was the end of it's life.

Soon, I found myself back to back with Cream. "Having fun yet?" I asked.

She shrugged. "At least some idiots have the nerve to revolt."

"Ever thought it would be you?" I asked.

She smiled. "Never."

I nodded and we fought.

A robot lunged at me. I ducked and the robot sailed over me, but they were smart. Another one was lunging down at the same time. I was pinned. "Cream!" I yelled but she was standing up against three more. I struggled but my burns were too much and the pain was too great.

The robot's arm became a blade. "Oh shoot," I muttered and looked up at the sky. "Anything else you want to do to me today?" I screamed. "Maybe like kill me? Or, here's something new, break my back and leave me to starve to death? Want to do that?"

The bot sliced down into the wound Mighty had already inflicted. I screamed bloody murder. (No pun intended). With a quick kick, the robot went flying. By the time I stood up, Cream and I were standing in the middle of thousands of dead robots. "Where's Tails?" I whispered.

Cream pointed to the hill. Tails and Sonic were fighting. I gulped, but what Cream said made my blood run cold.

"Help him!"


	12. The Shard

_Author's note: Ok, this story is winding down. This will be the either the second to last or third to last chapter. If you haven't noticed, I write as I go! So, enjoy!_

_Chapter Twelve: The Shard_

"Holly Macaroni and cheese," I muttered.

"Shadow, wake up!" Cream yelled. "And help him, will ya?"

"I can't," I whispered.

"What?"

I CAN'T!" I screamed.

"Why?"

"You go!" My mind kept flashing back to my dreams. In all of them, Tails died and now it was about to happen.

"Coward," Cream spat. I winced. I lost it. I was fully and completely insane. I was backing down from a fight. A scream came from behind me and I saw Cream taken down by a surviving robot.

"Cream!"

"You, go help your friend, I'll handle this bucket of bolts!" She yelled.

I began to run, but stopped dead. Half of me wanted to run away from the nightmare and the other wanted me to prevent it and whatever was left told me to wait just to see if I really could predict the future. I didn't know what to listen to, so I stayed frozen, half watching, half willing my legs to move. I saw a flash of a knife on the hill. "Great," I whispered. Tails ran. That wasn't in my dreams. Sonic picked up the chase. Since the fox's tail was broken, he could fly.

My legs finally worked and I began the chase. I didn't want to repeat my last dream. I screamed as I tripped over something in the clearing. I looked down and gagged. "Mighty?" I whispered, kneeling beside the broken body of the red armadillo.

"Hey," came the very raspy reply.

"Mighty?" I asked, louder.

"Jeez, boy, don't yell," he replied. "Are you ok?"

I laughed, despite the situation. "Is that all you can say?"

"Yes," Mighty answered with a hint of a smile.

"How are you still alive?"

"Sonic thought he could get rid of me that easy. Ha! He ain't the only one who can die hard!"

I jumped a little, briefly wondering how he knew of that line, but I didn't push the subject. I'm sure there were thousands attempts on Sonic's life, why wouldn't they think he died hard? "Never cease to surprise me," I muttered.

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Cream is on her way. Don't die on my, buddy," I said. "I need to find Tails before he dies."

"Nightmare?"

"Nightmare. Good luck." I stood and continued running. Without realizing it, I was searching for a capsule. Why did I want to find it? The vision of what was inside of it made me shiver.

I smacked right into a smooth, glass thing. I winced. This was it. Rubbing the dirt away, I was literally scared to see what was in it. When I made a window, I looked in.

Nothing. The capsule was completely empty except for some red liquid at the bottom of the glass chamber. I shivered and walked away. There was a loud scream. "Tails, if you die, I'm going to kill you!" I yelled and continued the chase. Coming over a hill, I was faced with a huge field of black grass and rolling hills. "Sonic, you are the sickest creature I've ever known," I muttered. The sky itself was turning a pitch black color and lighting lit the sky every few seconds. "Ever heard of a normal fight setting?" I said to the sky again. "You know, maybe get some sun out here, green grass, nice fluffy clouds, maybe a few birds? Ever thought of that?" Without waiting for an answer from whomever I was screaming at, I began running through the field of dead, black grass.

Tails and Sonic were fighting, and I knew it was to the death, on top of the biggest hill in the field. "Alright, now what?"

"Remember..." I looked around, but saw no one.

"Whose there!" I yelled.

"An old friend," came the reply.

"Who are you?"

"Remember, Shadow," the voice whispered, but I still didn't see anyone. My brain snapped to attention. The weapon in Tails' hand in my last dream. He needed a weapon, but what? Then it hit. The Chaos Emerald. I pulled it out. "Now what?" I muttered. Angrily, I began squeezing the Emerald. It cracked. "Wait," I whispered. This was the eight Emerald. It didn't exist! I crushed it. A long shard fell through the center. I bent down and picked it up and looked at the sky. "You win," I whispered.

"Tails!" I yelled. The fox lifted his head at his name. Sonic took the moment to strike. "Oh no you don't. Only in my dreams. Hey Sonic!" The hedgehog stopped dead, still not used to hearing his name. I threw the shard. Tails was quick to act and lunged to snatch it before Sonic had the first clue. The fox grabbed the shard from the air. "Do it," I whispered, urging him, knowing what he had to do.

Without thinking, the fox plunged the emerald shard through the hedgehog's back. I had to cover my ears to block the terrible scream from the blue hedgehog. Tails was on top of him, stabbing him over and over. Sonic was screaming. Tails wasn't hitting any vital spots, he was letting the hedgehog die slowly. I doubted he was even thinking about what he was doing.

"Stop you demon!" Sonic screamed. I winced. "You little devil! Hate! I hate you, you creature of the night! I thought you were dead! I enjoyed watching your body gasp for air underneath that water! You demon, get off of me!"

Sonic would have no idea what he did to that fox with that one statement. Tails stabbed harder, tears pouring down his face. Begging for forgiveness for doing this. Screaming that he never thought this day would come. I was mesmerized by the scene. Two best friends, one who looked up to the other with admiration, now killing each other. It was disturbing, but yet amazing at the same time. We always are asked "what would you do if..." and we always say we'll do the right thing, but when push comes to shove and shove comes to pull, you never really know what you will do. I will tell you, I never imagined this scene in my wildest dreams.

Sonic was weakening and his yells were more quiet. Tails was stabbing harder and in a rhythm. I shook my head, breaking the hold the scene had on me that kept me rooted to my spot. I ran to Tails. I placed my hand on his shoulder as he took one more stab right between Sonic's shoulder blades. There was a terrible gasp and the hedgehog was still.

"Tails?" I whispered. The fox was staring at the dead hedgehog. His eyes were glazed over and his face was soaked with blood, sweat and over all, tears. "It's ok..."

"What did I do?" He whispered.

"The world a favor," I replied, keeping me eyes on the blood soaked grass.

"No," he muttered, then louder screamed, "NO!" And he ran. I didn't go after him. What do you say to someone who had just killed their best friend? How to you explain to them that they did what was best for everyone? No, I let him run.

Kneeling beside Sonic, I frowned. "This isn't how you were meant to die," I muttered. "This isn't how anyone was meant to go. I will fix this, you have my word." I looked at the emerald shard. "And to you, Chanic, farewell. I thank you for my life. You could have made something of yourself, but instead you created this world. This land that holds too much pain and suffering for even my body to handle. You have destroyed this place and have made a mess of my home. No, wait, our home. This was yours too, ya know. Sonic the Hedgehog. What to say about the world's greatest hero and Chanic the Hedgehog, the world's greatest villain? I guess I all I can say is that if we can't get home, Tails will surely die." I turned him to see his face. An angry snarl was frozen on his now lifeless face. I gently closed his eyes. "Good-bye, hero and Good-bye villain."

Sighed, I looked away from the body. It was a horrible sight. Blinking, something caught my eye on a hill on the other side of the clearing. Lightning struck. It was a long flash that lit the whole field. There, standing on that hill was a black figure. In that brief moment where the sky was no longer black, but white, the figure locked eyes with me. I caught the look. It seemed to say "I will get you. No matter what time zone." And the moment passed. Lightning struck a second later and no one was on that hill. I figured I dreamt it. My mind flashed to the voice that screamed at me when I was wondering how to save Tails. Why, if it was the same person, they helped me just to threaten me later?

"Shadow?" I looked up.

"Cream? Where's Mighty?"

She pointed to the armadillo, who was staring blankly at the body. "Is he ok?"

"I'm fine! Start asking me, not her."

"What was that bone snapping sound?"

Mighty cracked his knuckles, which sounding exactly like a bone snapping. "Not bad," Cream said, "But why did you run?"

"Who do you think saved blacky over there?" Mighty said with a smile.

"Shadow, did you do this?" Cream asked.

"No, Tails did." I pointed to the fox, who was off far from here, weeping.

"He should be celebrating, not crying," Mighty said.

"Remember that story I told you, Mighty?" He nodded. "Well, it's all true, and in that world, they were best friends. Mighty winced. He began to crawl over to the fox. I watched him struggle until he made it. Tails refused what ever comfort he was being offered.

"Shadow, what story?" Cream asked.

"Cream, the reason Tails and I were so lost when you found us was because we are from the past. We destroyed the past by leaving our friend in the distant past. We messed up the time stream. Please, help us fix it."

"I will." She whispered and walked over to the fox. I followed. Tails was weeping terribly. I knelt beside him and Cream and Mighty stepped away. The bloodstained fox gripped my and embraced me. I looked around, embarrassed.

"_Do that again_ _and I will kill you."_

Amazing how life can change. I let him stay there. I let him cry himself out and I let him weep until he was reduced to gasping sobs. I patted him gently when he finally threw up. I'm not sure how long we sat there, four unlikely animals who over threw one of the greatest villains to ever live and one of the greatest heroes. My dreams had come true. I had killed the fox. Not physically, like I thought it would be, but mentally. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

Thunder clapped and rain began to fall steadily. I placed my hand out, expecting to see red rain, or even black, but it was clear water. I looked over at Mighty and Cream. They were both crying.

"Guys?" I whispered. "What's wrong."

Mighty was smiling a huge smile. "We haven't seen clean water in forever." He said happily. "We haven't had rain in over 15 years"

_Author's note: Rain symbolizes a lot of stuff. Ok, while writing this I realized that this is the second to last chapter. I know, it was a bit... Wow. Weird I guess. I have been planning this scene from the beggining of this story. Hope you enjoyed it. Very sad, or atleast I thought so. Very "heavy" again and hopefully not something you expected. Good day and I will see ya'll in the last chapter._


	13. AfterMath

_Author's note: Sorry guys, but this is the last chapter! Hope ya'll like it!_

_Chapter Thirteen: After Math_

The base itself was the largest thing I had ever seen. Now that we didn't have anywhere to be, or anyone to hide from, exploring the place was no problem. The robots had found out about Sonic's death and hid when ever we came by. One actually self destructed at the site of me. I looked at Cream. "Rough day for them, I guess," I muttered.

She smiled and shoved me. "You're terrible!"

I shrugged. We had left Tails and Mighty outside. The fox was still nervous and under a lot of shock. I was surprised about the fact that I was joking about this. I became serious again. "Do you want to know what you are like where I'm from?" I asked suddenly.

She shook her head. "No. I know what I am now. I don't want to feel any worse then a I do."

"You know, I still have a head-ache from our first meeting," I said with a slight laugh.

Cream smiled. "Yeah, well, my back still hurts from that, Chaos thingy!"

"Chaos Spear, Cream," I said. I looked at her. "Where do you think it is?"

"What, the Master Emerald? No idea. If it's as powerful as you say it is, then I would think he would keep it somewhere where no one could get it, or use it. The center, or the control room."

"This place isn't powered by Chaos Energy," I muttered. Cream didn't answer. "Cream?" I turned to see an open door. "Cream! We are not here to snoop!"

"You might want to see this..." She said. I walked into the room.

"Oh... My... Gosh," I breathed. The room was covered, ceiling to floor, with pictures, x-rays, and thousands of what looked like recon photos. I gulped. "I can't believe he did this," I whispered. Some pictures were of living creatures, but others were dissections and tests. I looked away. "What is this?" But what stood out more then muscle showing and strange pictures of disgusting tests, was a picture of a black figure on a hill. I stepped over to the picture. "No way," I whispered, stepping away like I had been struck. It was a picture of an echidna. "Knuckles?" It was impossible, but he was the last. "Ceaira?" Cream wasn't paying any attention. I was sweating. The figure looked so familiar. "Why? Why would he care about an echidna?"

"Is that what this thing is?" I spun around at Cream's voice. She was holding up a poster of an echidna's anatomy. It was labeled in messing hand writing and things were scratched out. One thing was circled, though. I snatched the poster from Cream and looked. The circled item chilled me. It was a few letters written in frustration, but what could be read said _Who are you_? I shivered. My words exactly. "Why would he have this? The Echidna is extinct. Why would he care. And who is that in that picture?"

"It has to be doctored, but he has other notes on this creature you call an Echidna." She handed me a dozen or so note cards, a large profile binder and about ten pictures very much like the one on the wall. I began reading a note card.

_It makes no sense. I know I allowed that rabbit to live, but the echidna race has been dead for hundreds of years? I tend to see it in the field outside of the Ruins of Station Square. I do believe it may be female, but the study of this creature has never been recorded, if at all been done. It may be a male. These recon photos aren't helping me. How did this thing slip through? Why hasn't it attacked? Is it friend or foe. I must find it! And it must be destroyed, NOW!_

_Chanic January_ _25 2017_

I skimmed the other cards. That one was the most recent. I felt sick. "Let's go," I whispered. Cream didn't question my escape, but another picture caught my eye. I felt like throwing up when I saw it. It was my capsule, with me still in it. I closed my eyes. The junk in it was pale green and my skin was so pale, I was white and pink. "Let's go," I repeated. _So that's how you met your end, Shadow? _I thought. I didn't wait for Cream, I just left.

"You have some explaining to do," Cream said when we got away from the room.

"Huh?"

"Who are you?"

"Shadow."

"No! Where are you from?"

"Cream, I told you, I'm from the past..."

She cut me off and stopped. "How far back?"

"You want a story? Ok, here goes nothing. About a year ago, in my time, some guy I knew was attacked by a girl named Ceaira. It's a long story, but to make it short, let's just say he sort of fell for this girl before he knew she was evil. Well, when he found out, he was crushed and hid himself for a year. His friend, the fox, forced me onto this guy's island so Tails could knock some sense into him..." I continued, keeping my eyes on her. She didn't once waver in disbelief like she had when I told her I was Shadow, but she didn't show that she believed me either. "... and well, here we are." I finished with a shrug.

"Shadow, from what I've been through, you would think I would believe anything, but that is the hardest thing to believe I've ever heard."

I smiled. For the first time, I didn't care what anyone thought. "You know what Cream? You don't have to believe me, because I know that what I told you is the truth. Just because you don't believe something doesn't make it false."

She nodded. "Let's get you're emerald and get you home," She said and continued walking. I shook my head. That was the last thing we said to each other. I guess I wasn't meant to have friends. Whatever the reason, we didn't say another word to each other.

The room the Master Emerald was wasn't as big as I thought it would be. Surprisingly, it was small! All seven of the Chaos emeralds were in glass cases and the Master Emerald was in the center. He had access to this kind of power all along. I nodded to Cream and we began taking the Emeralds out of the room. Neither of us spoke. Maybe we should have, but for whatever reason, we kept silent.

Mighty and Tails were sitting where we had left them, but I could tell by Mighty's dirt covered belly that he went somewhere. "You ready?" I asked Tails. The fox nodded. I looked off in the direction of Sonic's body. "Let's fix this," I whispered. I bent down in front of Mighty.

"Look me up, will ya?" He asked.

"I'll try, kid." He took my hand and shook it. When he pulled it away the emerald shard, now stained a deep red, was placed firmly in my hand. "What's this?"

"Parting gift." He said. "No more nightmares Shadow. I'm not going to be there to pull you back."

I smiled and gently patted him on the back. "I'm ok," I whispered. He smiled.

I turned and never saw them again.

"Come on, Tails," I muttered. My arm was killing me, my heart was breaking, and I knew his was too, but all things considered, I was doing great. We took the Emeralds far away from where the base was and Cream and Mighty. Silently, we placed the Master Emerald on top of one of the many hills in the waste land. We place all seven emeralds around it in a circle. I gripped the shard and placed my hand on the Master Emerald. "Here goes everything," I whispered.

Tails nodded. "Here goes nothing."

"Chaos Control!"

"Shadow! We're being robbed!" I jolted awake.

"What?" I yelled.

"I called the police. Go! He's getting away!"

I looked around. I was in the room I had been living in for almost a month. We were being robbed? I smiled. It worked! Jumping out of the bed I flew downstairs. It was four in the morning. I remembered this day well. I took and alley way and cut him off.

"Going somewhere?" I asked with a twisted grin on my face. He turned, but I jumped behind him. Now he was cut off. "So, wanna try this again?" I asked.

"Again?"

I shrugged. "Nothing you would understand, so why don't we just calmly wait for the police?"

Like last time, it took the cops more than an hour to get there, but by that time, the robber and I were having a rather interesting conversation. I nodded to the police and walked out of the alley way. Sighing, I went to Tails' house. It was great to see Station Square again and even better to see the Ruins, in Ruins.

I knocked. I understood that it was about six in the morning. Tails came quickly to the door. "You did it," he said with a slight smile. I wondered if we would ever see him the same again.

"Yeah. How do you think Knux is doing?"

"Turn-tables?" I nodded. "Let's go then."

Needless to say, we did not use Chaos Control to get to Angel Island. Tails' tail was still broken, se we took Sonic's plane, that Tails had completely forgotten about when this whole journey started.

We crept up to the shrine. Knuckles was staring with a confused and dazed look into oblivion. "Knuckles!" Tails called and ran up to the shrine. Knuckles looked at him.

"What happened? Why are we here?"

I turned and left the fox to explain. Sighing, I made me way to the red plane. I pondered as to why Sonic's plane was red and Tails' was blue, but the thought died as I listened to the sound of the waves beneath the island.

After a good hour, Knuckles walked up to me. "Thanks," he whispered.

"Huh?"

"For bringing me back. This is my home, Shadow. I went searching for you guys after you left, but found out that you guys had left already."

"I thought you had nothing to live for in this world." I said.

He smiled. "You know what, Shadow? I'd rather live completely alone in terms of race just to relive this life over and over."

Later, I found myself on the beach. Tails was standing beside me. An odd duo. A twelve year old fox with a cast on his left tail and an emo hedgehog with a bandage on his right arm. We were staring silently into the ocean. The breeze was soft and for the first time in my life, I appreciated the sound of crashing waves and the site of the blue green ocean. The sun was setting by that time. I figured we had been standing there, rigid, for almost 3 hours. There was no talking to be done and no movement required. Why do humans hate silence so much? Have we ever just stopped to listen to the silence of the world? Maybe we are too afraid to hear something in the wind. Whatever the reason, I don't get it. Silence is probably the only thing on this Earth that is close to perfect.

"You guys ok?"

I turned my head and exhaled. Tails yelled and ran to the blue hedgehog while I just watched. He was crying his eyes out within seconds and begging for forgiveness. Sonic looked at me and lifted an eyebrow. I shrugged and gave a small smile. Turning away, I let them reunite.

"So, what was the deal with that?"

Sonic had come over. Tails was running toward the Train Station. He was happy at last. "The smile or the fox?"

"Both."

I sighed. "Sonic, what would you say if I told you that you took over the world."

"I'd say you were insane, Shadow."

"I am insane," I muttered. "What would you say if I told you Tails killed you?"

"I'd probably be really mad that you would think something like that."

I smiled and shook my head. "Want some advice from an old timer?" I whispered.

"Sure," Sonic said, giving me a strange look.

"Listen kid, you have it made. Two great friends and the whole hero thing down, but you have an evil inside of you, as do I and everyone living on this planet. Don't give into it."

He looked at me. "Whatever you say Shadow." Sonic said and we lapsed into silence, watching the sun color the water a fiery red color. Silence. The world runs on it. We need to be silent to be heard. Maybe one day, the world will see that we need to stop and look at what we may lose at any minute. Maybe when we learn to be silent, we will learn to listen, and overall, learn to tell.

"Sonic?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of the setting sun.

"Yeah?" He answered.

I imagined what we looked like right then. Two figures, colored black from the sun, standing a good four, five feet from each other, staring out into the ocean, something we never take time to appreciate. "Don't ever change, kid," I whispered. "For your sake, Tails' sake and the world's, don't ever change."

_Author's note: The end! Ok guys, the story you all have been waiting for is coming! Knuckles Adventure 3: Ceaira. HA! Ceaira's full story! Coming soon to a computer near you! I really hope you enjoyed KA2! KA3 will be up tomorrow or Monday! Thanks for sticking with the series!_


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